Severed Bonds
by mystical-blaise
Summary: In just one night, Gena lost her entire family and her one true love. Through the years she's searched for her place in the world. Little does she know, her journey has just begun. The last chapter is up!
1. College Years

Disclaimer: I do not own Elena, Stefan, Damon, Bonnie, Matt, Meredith, Alaric, or any other name or character associated with The Vampire Diaries. They are all the sole property of Ms. Lisa Jane Smith. The characters of Gena, Will, Gavin, and all other characters not from the original series are mine. The song lyrics for "Goodbye to You" belongs to Michelle Branch.  
  
This is a fan fic that I've been working on since last summer. Believe it or not, but I've only put up a few of the chapters. Some of these chapters are short, but they are broken up from the others for a reason. If you have any advice to give, or if you like it, please contact me. I am currently having trouble taking documents and putting them in; the spacing and return characters are getting really messed up. Please be patient with me. Thanks, and enjoy!

* * *

_ 'I don't know why these college kids complain about food so much. It's not that hard to find something good to eat,'_ Gena thought, as she licked up the last few drops of blood from her victim's neck. It was easy for her at least. Especially with these crazy college kids, which she had become. She went out every night to any of the local clubs, where she finds people who are all too willing to die. She liked the taste of the most attractive, yet arrogant, men. They were the easiest for her to catch. They would take one look at her; tall, black hair, black eyes with little flecks of green, sleek body, an intoxicating smile, and the stupid mortal boys would lose all reason. They thought they were god's gift to women. Then there are others that she felt sorry for, such as Gena's current victim, an Ecstasy addict on the verge of death. She gently placed him against a wall and left the club for the night, feeling full yet unfulfilled.

* * *

Gena awakened in her dorm room the next morning to the sounds of her stereo, feeling partially refreshed and energized. The obnoxious red numbers on her digital alarm clock on her desk read 8:00 as she made her way out of her soft bed. She was definitely not a morning, let alone day, person. Her linen curtains billowed and she felt the warm southern breeze blowing in through her open window.   
  
_'It's going to be a hot one today,'_ she said softly to herself.   
  
Gena stretched and looked out her small window onto the small campus of her school. Everything was teeming with life, especially the male volleyball players and female sunbathers. Spring had finally arrived, although it was always warm in Louisiana. Gena's first class on Friday was at 9:30 in the morning, which only gave her and hour to get ready. It also only gave her an hour to finish any homework that she didn't get done the night before. Never one to be the procrastinator, this was no concern of hers because she was ahead on her homework for the week. Gena got her shower shoes on and headed towards the co-ed bathroom.   
  
Taking a seat near the back of the class, Gena listened to her fashion design teacher, Mrs. Maples, for the last time. Finals were next week; making this the last full class she had to suffer through. Not that it was a bad class, but it was conducted in dreaded room 111, which happened to be the only room at Magnolia College to have no air conditioning. Everyone was glad to say goodbye after spending one warm day during the spring. Gena could feel her tank top clinging to her back and her hair matting to her forehead. She rummaged through her bag and finally found a ponytail to put her wavy hair up.   
  
For her final, Gena had to make a presentation on her last course in her fashion design major. The students had to choose a focus for the project. Gena knew what she was going to do right away; the history of fashion. Everyone else shied away from that topic because they felt it was the most boring and intense. Little did anyone know that Gena had seen history over the course of hundreds of years, including fashion, with her own eyes. Not only that, but she also had actual dresses left over from each time period she lived in, locked away in ancient chests.   
  
_'This is going to be so easy,'_ she thought gleefully as she looked at the clock and started to pack up her books.   
  
"Ok class, remember the final is on Wednesday at noon in media room 214. Have a good weekend!" With that the whole class left, never to return to that hot, sticky, sweaty room again.

* * *

"Hey Gena, could you hurry up! Madame Antoinette is going to chop off our heads for this shit! She hates when her students are late!"  
  
"Alright Zoë, hold on," Gena yelled through her closed door. Finally, she opens the door, fully dressed in her ballet practice outfit. The two friends walked briskly off to their ballet practice.  
  
"What the hell were you doing in there? Waxing your legs or something? ," Zoë said while giving Gena an inquisitive look.   
  
Gena looked back at the girl next to her. Zoë, with her short and spikey black hair along with numerous piercings, did not look like the typical ballerina. If she had anything that resembled one, it was her long and lean body. Her friend's bright blue eyes looked at her in a laughing way as she stuck her tongue out at her.   
  
"No, I was waxing my bikini area," Gena said sarcastically. "I couldn't find my favorite slippers, Zo. Sorry if I interrupted your busy schedule."   
  
"You and your 'lucky' shit. I just put on what ever I see first."   
  
"If you could find it in your room that is. Thus the difference between you and me, Zo; I have class," Gena said while giving her a devilish wink.   
  
"Screw you, Salvatore," Zoë said, which she then stuck out her tongue to give Gena the raspberries.  
  
"Oh real mature, Zo. You should be..." Gena's sentence was halted by the presence of her instructor.  
  
"Girls!! What time is it?" Madame authoritatively questioned. Zoë and Gena both looked at each other, trying to think of something to say that wouldn't involve them having to do Fouette turns for an hour.  
  
"Time to shut up and dance?" Zoë replied innocently.  
  
"Uh...I guess you could say that, Miss Porter. Now, go warm up!"  
  
Gena and Zoë took their places at the bars and began to plie and rise.  
  
"Now girls, we must work hard, for your performance is only four days away."  
  
"Yes, Madame," Gena replied earnestly, always wanting to better perfect the skill she had since her human teens.  
  
"Yes, Madame," Zoë said mockingly in Gena's direction. Zoë hated to practice and it showed; her form was becoming sloppy.  
  
"Miss Porter, straighten up! Look to Miss Salvatore if you want to see true form." Zoë gave Gena a harsh glance. Gena knew how much Zoë hated to be compared to other members of the troupe, especially in front of everyone in the class.  
  
"Now, girls, I have finally figured out what the last number you two will perform at the recital..."  
  
"With all respect Madame, how do you expect us to learn a new number in four days?" Gena said.  
  
"You two are my finest students, you will do fine. I have faith that you will be able to do this song with no problem. You will be visually interpreting the _Waltz of the Snowflakes_ from _The Nutcracker_."  
  
"Oh, groovy," Zoë said sarcastically; she wanted to do a song that wasn't so classical. "I want to visually interpret my foot up her ass," she said under her breath.  
  
Gena couldn't help but laugh at her best friend. She was the funniest person she knew, actually, she's the funniest person she'd really ever known.  
  
Gena and Zoë continued to dance for three grueling hours. The clock in the dance studio finally read that it was time for dinner.  
  
"Thank you, God! I am starving and my feet are so frickin' swollen. Why can't this school have a Jacuzzi or something? Sigh. Let's start heading back to the dorm. I'm going to go change into some other clothes. You are comin' Salvatore?"  
  
"Yeah, just give me a minute. I'll be right with you."  
  
"Alright, I'll see you in the locker room."  
  
Gena looked at her reflection in the mirror, the same one that looked back at her over the past five hundred years.  
  
_'I wonder what I would have looked like if I aged...'_ Gena thought to herself while her hand lightly brushed her cheek, trying to feel for wrinkles that were not there. They would never be there. On many occasions, she wished that she could change her current state and be like everyone else. Her mind was conflicted with thoughts about her present 'life'. She could end her immortality by the sun if she wanted to. Yet, she chose to live through heartache, disappointment, and tragedy that had occurred in her new life. She was a glutton for punishment.  
  
The sound of a tree brushing against the studio window brought her back to life. It was windy outside, and a storm was brewing. She grabbed her bag and headed towards the locker room and whatever else awaited her.

* * *

"Oh crap! I forgot my keycard! Can you let me in, Gena, my friend, my pal, my bestest..."  
  
"Zo, please. Spare me. Of course I'll let you in, you psycho."  
  
Gena scanned her key card and heard the annoying beep that let the students know they could open the door. She liked living at Aurora Hall. It small, more like a frat or sorority house, just like the other three halls on campus: Twilight Hall, Dawn Hall, and Luster Hall. All the houses used to be part of a plantation during the early 1800s. Aurora had been the main house, so it was definitely the nicest.  
  
Each hall was named for the nature that surrounded them. Twilight was named because it was the farthest house to the west, thus getting the best sunset. Dawn was aptly named because it was the farthest house to the east, which gets the best sunrise. Luster hall was named because it was closest to the waterfront, and the light on the water produced a beautiful play of shimmer on the water. Aurora was named for the light that it gets from the sunrise, although its not directly east. The morning sun casts a beautiful luminescent light on the hall. Each hall housed only twenty people on its three floors; most of the students who went to Magnolia were commuters from New Orleans. The first floor had a common living area, which had a pool table, a couch, and a television with cable at Aurora. This floor also had a 'gourmet' kitchen, a small dining room, and a twenty-four hour computer lab. Although Gena had a computer in her room, she felt more focused when she worked at the lab. The stairs on the first floor led up to the second, which was made up of dorm rooms and the famous co-ed bathroom. Gena, Zoë, and her other friends, Hannah, Em, and Gena's boyfriend, Philip, lived on the second floor.   
  
Gena looked around the common room, which they named the recess room, and saw Em sitting on the couch watching her favorite show, _The Real World_ on MTV.   
  
"Hey Gena, what took you and Zo so long? Hannah couldn't wait and she's already in there probably working on her second helping of cereal. I thought I was going to starve waiting for you two to get here," Em said with a smile as she rose from her indented seat on the couch, we'd proved that she had been watching the marathon all day.   
  
"Gena had to wax her legs," Zo said, giving Gena a wink.   
  
"Say what," Em replied, giving them an odd look.   
  
"Inside joke," Gena said.  
  
"Whatever," Em said as the three made there way to the dining hall.  
  
After they got there plates full of whatever looked edible for the night, which ended up being fries, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and cereal, they located the table that Hannah had saved. They all started to pick at there food. Gena only had one bite of her sandwich and that's all she could stomach. Even the schools peanut butter tasted horrible. She put the sandwich done with a look of disgust on her face.   
  
_'I got to go out tonight and feed,'_ she thought to herself.   
  
"What's wrong with you Gena, you never eat anything...are you anorexic or something," Em asked.   
  
"No," Gena responded, "I just eat my stuff in my room. I hate the kibble they serve down here."  
  
"So, are we still on for the sleep over tonight," Hannah asked, while picking at her 'food', her red hair falling in her clear blue eyes. Hannah was what Gena would consider a beautiful girl.   
  
"Of course," Gena said, "My room at eight tonight. Remember to bring anything edible. I have popcorn and soda, but other than that, my fridge is empty of junk food. Bring any movies you'd want to watch, games, etc."   
  
"How about strip poker," Zoë said with a smile.  
  
"Not unless there are guys at this shindig," Hannah said jokingly.   
  
"Well, that wasn't very nice," Zoë replied, trying to look like she was upset, even though she couldn't stop laughing.  
  
"I'm going to go make a quick run to the store before tonight. I have a list of stuff I have to buy," Em said as she played with one of her blue pigtails.   
  
"Good, because we'll all be starving by eight, after eating this ...stuff. My god, is this supposed to be grilled cheese or a mortar?" Zoë picked up her sandwich and hit it against the table, leaving few crumbs. "To think that my stomach has to digest this crap!"  
  
"I'm going to write some of stuff for the store down. Does anyone want something specific," Em said as she pulled a notebook and pen from her backpack.  
  
Gena, Zoë, and Hannah looked at each other and then unanimously replied, "Chocolate!" 


	2. The Sleepover

Around 7:45, Gena threw on her pajamas and got her room ready for the party. She made her bed so that its crimson comforter was smooth and crisp. She got out all the essentials, including blankets, pillows, candles for a séance, and of course, the food. The party was going to be fun and relaxing. She thought that it would be able to take mind off of everything, including her boyfriend. Suddenly there was a knock at the door. Gena went to open it, hoping that it was one of the girls; she was wrong.   
  
"Hey babe, what's happening," Philip said. He then grabbed her close and hugged her tightly. "I haven't seen you around lately. Were have you been?"   
  
"School, ballet, and occasionally ice-skating at the rink. That's about it, but it takes up most of my time," Gena said, while trying to politely wiggle from his grasp.  
  
"So, what's with the PJ's? Were you expecting me tonight?" Philip said, with an anxious glow in his eye.   
  
"No, I wasn't. The girls and I are having a slumber party. No boys allowed. They'll be here any minute now, so you should probably get going."   
  
"OK, I get the hint. I'll leave. Just have fun tonight ok. See ya later." He pulled her closer again and kissed her softly. Philip then headed down the hall back to his room, passing the other girls who were on their way down.   
  
"Hey Gena, what is prince charming so unhappy about? Is there trouble in paradise," Em said as she entered the room with three bags full of junk food. Gena looked at the bag with a feeling of nausea, she wished she had gone out and fed before the party.  
  
"It's nothing, really," Gena said quickly. She grabbed a Dr. Pepper from the fridge.   
  
"Oh come on, Salvatore," Zoë said from her seat on the floor, as she ripped opened a bag of Doritos, spilling one fourth of the bag. "Ah, shit. Sorry about the nacho cheese stains. Anyways something has to be the matter. You've been going out for two years. You were all lovey dovey and shit in the beginning, but now you don't even go and see him. What's with that?"   
  
"It's complicated. I just don't know," Gena said, as she sat on her couch.   
  
"Try me," Hannah said. Hannah had a history of bad relationships.   
  
"Ok. How do I explain this...I just don't feel that spark anymore, you know? I keep on thinking that I'm missing out on something. I really just want to end this one."   
  
"After two years? Are you crazy?" Em said with a mouth full of Ben and Jerry's ice cream. She looked at Gena as if she was insane.   
  
"It happens," Hannah said as she sat cross-legged on the floor. She grabbed for more Milk Duds, "Look at me. I was engaged after I dated a guy for three years. You just get this feeling when it isn't right. I got it too, so I broke it off. And I'm not going to lie to you and tell you it was easy, because it was hard to do. But I will tell you this; Gena, if you feel that way, it's better to do it sooner than later. You wouldn't want the next opportunity to pass by and you don't want to leave Philip in the dark."   
  
"I know," Gena replied, "I just have to figure out how to break to him."  
  
"How about, 'Hi Philip. We'll after a few months of deliberation I have found out that I am attracted to Zo and not you. I'm gay.' That would work," Zoë said with smile. Gena laughed.   
  
"I wish that would work. You know how many guys like girl-on-girl action. He'd NEVER leave!" Gena said, causing the whole room to be engulfed with laughter. After all the giggling subsided, they looked around at each other trying to read each other.   
  
Gena reached for her guitar and started to play. It always calmed her nerves to play any of the instruments she knew so well. But, she had to admit, the guitar was her favorite to play. Maybe it was because women weren't allowed to play it in the old days.   
  
"Hey, I know that song," Zoë said as she began to sing.  
  
The phone began to ring.  
  
"Hello," Gena said, "Yes, I understand...I forgot...it won't happen again." She hung up the phone and looked at the others. "Sorry guys, quiet hours for finals week, no more singing tonight."   
  
"So gang, what are we going to do next? Besides getting fat from all this food I mean," Em asked.   
  
"How about 'Truth or Dare'," Zo suggested. They all nodded and took their places in the room. "I am going to ask the first question since it was my brilliant idea," she pauses to clear her throat, "My dear Salvatore, I must ask you first. Truth or Dare."   
  
Gena had to think about it. If she did a dare that could get her hurt, she knew she wouldn't get hurt, thus making everyone think she is different. Plus, she never did feel like guzzling down a whole bunch of human food at one time. She picked her poison.   
  
"Truth," Gena said.   
  
"Alright, since I really want to know...um...describe your first kiss and details please. What age were you? Who was it with? Where? Was there tongue? Stuff like that."   
  
The memories came flooding back to Gena's mind all at once; soft lips, strong arms, loving eyes, tears, blood, pain, and darkness. She'd been able to keep them out of her head for years now, but one mention of that kiss brought them all back. She felt like she had gone into shock. Frozen. Her friends stared at her with questioning glances.   
  
"Geez, Gena. You look so flush. Are you feeling alright," Hannah asked.  
  
"I'm fine...it's just...this brings up bad memories."   
  
"You know," Zoë said maternally, "You don't have to answer. I could ask you a different one if you'd like."   
  
"No, it's ok Zo," Gena paused, "It's ok. I can tell you...my first kiss was when I was seventeen."   
  
"Seventeen! I didn't expect that...I had mine when I was fourteen. What took you so long? ," Zo said in disbelief.   
  
"My house was very strict. Anyway...his name was William," the very thought of his name brought tears to her eyes. She missed him so much. "My father wasn't too keen of Will, so I snuck out one night and met him at Rose Park. We talked and joked around...and then we just stopped and looked at each other. He leaned in and kissed me just as the sun was going down over the horizon."   
  
"Aww...," Hannah and Em sighed. "So...was there tongue," Zo asked.   
  
"No, not that time. It was a passionate kiss, but there was no tongue. Will was a true gentleman," Gena said with a laugh and a slight sigh.   
  
"Ok, my turn to ask. Em, truth or dare?"  
  
"Um...truth," Em said nervously. "If you could have one boy on campus, who would you want?" "Actually, if you want me to be completely truthful...Philip."   
  
"What!? You want my boyfriend?"   
  
"You said that you were going to break up with him, right? So he's fair game," Em said defensively.   
  
"But friends don't date other friend's ex-boyfriends! That's just wrong!"  
  
"You asked, not me, and I did what I was supposed to do and I told the truth!"   
  
"Woo...hold on guys. Maybe this wasn't the best game to play right now. Let's change the subject right now, ok. No fighting tonight. Let's just do something else," Hannah interjected.   
  
The tension in the air was volatile and someone had to break it; enter Zo stage left.   
  
"Yeah, like, let's have a séance, or play the Ouija board or some shit like that. I love tampering with the spirits. It's cool."   
  
"Ok, that sounds fine...now Zo, did you actually remember to bring your Ouija board today," Gena asked, raising her eyebrow.   
  
"Oh shit, I'll be right back," Zo said, as she ran out the door and back to her room.  
  
"So, how do we get this thing to work," Hannah asked. "I can hardly see the board with just these candles on in the room!"  
  
"It's for atmosphere, dumb ass. The spirits will be more likely to show up this way. Spirits can only see natural light, so candles work," Zoë explained. She was an expert on anything having to do with the paranormal. "So that means that if we had the lights on in the room, the spirits still wouldn't be able to see the board."  
  
"I don't believe in this spirit stuff," Em responded defensively. "It's all crap to me."  
  
"Well, la dee da. None of us asked for your opinion, Em. So, if you want to do this with us, you are going to have to make an effort and try to concentrate. Other wise, it won't work. Then I'd have to kick you out of the room," Zoë said, staring Em down so that she knew she meant. "Alright, some rules before we start. Number one; never ask when you are going to die."  
  
"Well, if the spirits know all, wouldn't they know that," Em asked sarcastically.  
  
"Yes, Em, they would know. But, who wants to know that. So NO one asks that question," Zoë paused to look at Em. "And by the way, don't interrupt me again, Em. Just let me finish my rules. Ok, where was I...rule number two, never ask a spirit to prove its self. For example, don't ever ask 'if you're really here, move that chair' or something like that. It's stupid. It opens the portal for the spirit to come into the mortal world. Poltergeist stuff. Ok. Rule number three, if the board starts counting down numbers, like going from 0 to 9 to 8, or starts doing the alphabet backwards, take your hands off the planchett."  
  
"What's the planchett," Hannah interrupted. Zoë started to look frustrated.  
  
"The pointer thingy-ma-bob. Anyways, take your hand off of it. The spirits count down to try to escape the board. Now, we'll start with a prayer and end with one too. For good luck," Zoë said. She looked around to everyone who, besides Gena, looked fairly nervous. She must have scared the crap out of them. "It's ok guys. I've done this plenty of times. No worries. Hakuna Matata."  
  
"Ok, let's start," Gena said. The four girls placed their hands on the board.  
  
"Ok, I'll say the prayer," Zoë said, closing her eyes and bowing her head. "Oh dear God, or Goddess, please protect us as we delve into the spirit world. Amen."  
  
"Some prayer," Em said under her breath.  
  
"Alright, what do we want to do first? What do we want to ask...hmm," Zoë said, trying to think of something.  
  
"I have an idea," Gena said. "Why don't we ask about that room next door? The one that is supposedly not there even though there is a window and a door that's plastered over. Let's find out what happened with that."  
  
"Hey, that's a good idea, Salvatore. You're not as stupid as you look," Zoë said playfully. Gena punched her in the arm. "Ouch! Ok, I guess I deserved that. All right, we all have to concentrate. I'll ask the questions...hello, is anyone there? We are looking for someone who could tell us about the room next door to us...the one that is boarded up."  
  
The board responds back as the planchett moves to YES.  
  
"What's your name?'  
  
The board begins to move and Gena reads the letters aloud. "L-I-L-E- A. Lilea."  
  
"Ok, Lilea...we just want to ask you some questions. Is that ok?"  
  
The point on the planchett moved back up to YES. "Ok. Lilea, what was this house once used as?" Zoë stopped to look at Gena. "Gena, you read the letters allowed, you're obviously much faster and better at catching the letters than the rest of us."  
  
Gena looked at the board and she began to repeat the letters. "M-A-G- N-O-L-I-A P-L-A-N-T-A-T-A-I-O-N. Magnolia Plantation."  
  
"Alright...how do you know this?"  
  
"I-L-I-V-E-D-H-E-R-E. I lived here." Everyone felt a slight uncomfortable chill in the air. Zoë looked up at the group, with a look of curiosity on her face before she continued.  
  
"When were you born?"  
  
"M-A-Y-2-1-8-1-0. May 2nd, 1810."  
  
"When did you die?"  
  
"Hey!" Em interjected, "I thought you said that we couldn't ask anything about death dates?"  
  
"Only if it's our own. And, if you don't stop interrupting with stupid questions, you won't need a board to tell you when you're going to die. Ok, let's concentrate. I'll ask again...Lilea, when did you die?"  
  
"M-A-Y-3-1-8-2-7. May 3rd, 1827." Gena did the math in her head. "So, she had just turned seventeen." A thought quickly passed through her mind, _'I was the same age.'  
_  
Everyone subconsciously knew the next question that would be asked. "How did you die?"  
  
"M-U-R-D-E-R...Murder." Everyone looked around the room. The feeling in the room became colder and everyone showed they were extremely nervous.  
  
"How...What happened? Can you tell us?"  
  
"L-O-C-K-E-D-U-P-T-R-Y-G-E-T-O-U-T-J-U-M-P-F-E-L-L-I-C-A-N-T-G-E-T."  
  
"Did you get all the, Salvatore? She was going WAY too fast for me," Zoë said.  
  
"Yeah, she said she was locked up. I guess she tried to get out, via the window. She jumped to get to the ground and fell. She said she can't get out. It's like she's still stuck in there or on campus in general. "  
  
"Yeah, I've heard stories about a girl in white seen by the side garden," Em stated enthusiastically.  
  
Then it hit them...she had been locked in a room. The room that was boarded up, the one right next to Gena's used to be Lilea's. The reason it was boarded up was to keep her in.  
  
"Ok, who did this to you?"  
  
"F-A-T-H-E-R. Her father did this to her."  
  
"But why? Why did he do this to you?" Zoë asked anxiously.  
  
"N-O-H-U-R-T-X-V-P-L-O...all I can get so far is 'no hurt'. The rest of it is garbled." The board continued to spew out words that made no sense. Then, all of a sudden, there was a knock from inside the walled off room. They all screamed.  
  
"Oh shit!! Everyone, take your hand off the board! ," Zoë commanded. They were all frantic, trying to figure out what just happened, where to go, and what to do. Gena tried to take her hands off the planchett, but something came over her. She felt her hands being guided over the board.  
  
"Gena, for the love of Mike, take your hands off!" Em screamed. But, she couldn't. She began to read the message aloud, "G-E-N-A-G-A-V-I-N- I-S-T-H-E-O-N-E." Then, all at once, Gena felt the presence leave; she jerked her hands off the board. Zoë grabbed the cursed board, flipped it over, and then inserted the medium back in its ancient box.  
  
"Ok...," Hannah said between spurted breaths, "What the hell was that?"  
  
"Gena, what did it say at the end," Zoë asked cautiously.  
  
"Is anyone going to die?" Em asked.  
  
"No, it was a message to me...it said Gena, Gavin is the one."  
  
"Gavin, who's Gavin? Do you know one? ," Hannah asked.  
  
"No, I have no idea."


	3. Bad Memories

Gena changed from her animal form, a black-billed magpie, and transformed back into her human self in the side garden. She just got back from the woods, where she had fed from a hobo. As she walked back to the hall, she looked up at the second floor. She located the window of her room. It was white aluminum; a modern single window. It made her feel better knowing that some of the house had been updated and not left in it's original condition. She looked at the rest of the windows and she saw something she never noticed before...the room to the right of hers, Lilea's room, had a different window than all the rest. It had an old wood frame, painted white to look like the rest of them. The glass panes were cracked. The curtains to the room were drawn. All of a sudden, dull candle- light appeared in the room, sending a chill down her spine. She ran back to the dorm and went back to the second floor. She opened the door to Hannah's room and quickly snuck back in the way she left; they had all decided to sleep in Hannah's room after the Ouija board experience. Everyone was the same as when she had left them, asleep. Feeling full for the first time the whole evening, Gena slipped back under here blanket on the floor.  
  
"Hey, Gena? Where'd you go? ," Zoë asked sleepily.  
  
"Out...I couldn't sleep...I sat outside for a while and smoked a cigarette."  
  
"Hey, Gena...I've known you for three years now...why haven't you ever mentioned this Will guy before?"  
  
"It's kind of a bad subject...I don't really like to talk about it."  
  
Zoë looked her with an understanding look.  
  
"Goodnight, Salvatore."  
  
"Goodnight." Gena then closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep, with only one thought on her mind: Will.

* * *

"Gena, wake up," Zoë said. "Are you ok? You were screaming in your sleep."  
  
"I'm fine...it was just a bad dream." She wished it had only been a dream. The images still played in her head as if it had only happened a few moments ago. She felt a pang of nausea.   
  
"We're going to head on down to brunch to see if anything is edible. Want to come?"   
Hannah said with a look of concern. She always was the maternal one of the group, trying to make sure everyone was ok. That's how she earned her nickname, Ma.  
  
"Hannah, I'm fine. Really I am. I'm just going to eat a snack in my room. Don't worry, Ma, I'm not going to do anything strenuous today. I think I'm going to research some stuff," Gena said, as she tried to fix her tousled hair.   
  
"Research what? Is if for your final project in fashion? ," Zoë said.   
  
"No, I'm pretty much done with that. I started that like two weeks ago. I want to see if there is anything on record regarding Lilea. I want to confirm the story. It could have been our subconscious moving the board you know."   
  
"Ok, you can check that out. Hannah and I are going to the mall today. We'll meet back here later and see what you've found. If you need any help, just give me a call on my cell phone," Zoë said, handing her the number.  
  
"Zoë, you do this every time. I already have the number for you cancer box," Gena said, giving Zo a wink.   
  
"I just like to make sure." 


	4. More Than Research

Gena took a seat in the computer lab at one of the many unused computers. She tried to work in her room, but she didn't like being in there alone doing research on a dead girl who happened to still be next door. It was just too creepy.   
  
She started the computer and went to some genealogy sites online. The only problem was she didn't know Lilea's last name, so the research there didn't bring much up. After about three hours, Gena had gone through about fifty websites and had found nothing.   
  
"Damn it!" she said out of frustration. She hit the mouse on the desk.   
  
"Do you need any help?"   
  
She turned towards where the voice had come from. He was sitting at another computer, looking over at her with a look that reflected both concern and amusement. He was smiling at her waiting for an answer. Strands of his ash blonde hair were dangling in front of his deep brown eyes. His eyes were so deep, she felt like she was being swept up into them.   
  
"Do you need any help?" he repeated.   
  
"Um...yeah. Sorry, I'm usually a little more articulate than that. I'm just a little tired today," Gena said, a wave of embarrassment washing over her. She always hated to stare off like a deer in the headlights.   
  
"It's cool. Now what's the problem? What are you trying to do? ," the boy asked pleasantly.  
  
"I'm trying to research some history of this campus. It used to be a plantation and I want to find out more about it."   
  
"Ok, well, we'll start with this first," he said. He moved his seat to her desk and she felt a slight shudder.   
  
He guided her through various sites regarding Louisiana history, Magnolia College, and there was still no luck. As a last resort, they looked up some Louisiana library sites and they came across a book of old newspaper clippings dating back to 1775.   
  
"I think you found the book," he said, leaning back with a sense of satisfaction. "And you are so lucky; it says that there's a copy here on campus too."   
  
She turned around and looked at the two dusty shelves of library books in the computer lab. She got up and began to look through the stacks. The books were so old that they were falling apart on their own, with no help of human intervention. She finally found the book that she was looking for on the second shelf. She pulled it out and turned around to display her trophy.   
  
"Awesome...listen, I'm going to go out and something to eat. I'll be right back," he said as he exited the lab.   
  
She took it to another desk and began to skim through. She stopped when she saw the date was May 1810.   
  
_'That was when she was born_,' Gena thought.   
  
She looked through the newspaper and found a list of births next to the obituaries. Then it hit her like a ton of bricks.   
  
_ 'Lilea de Vincent of John and Therese de Vincent was born on the second of May, at the family home of Magnolia,'_ she read silently. Her name was Lilea de Vincent. She was a real person, and not just a figment of the four girl's imagination. She scanned the rest of the page and then came across something in the obituaries that sparked her interest.  
  
_'Therese Marguite de Vincent, who entered God's world on the eighteenth of June, in the year of our Lord 1794, departed our world on the third of May after a long and strenuous childbirth, may her soul rest in piece,_' Gena read to herself. Lilea's mother died the day after she gave birth to her; just like Gena's own mother. The similarity between the two girls' lives was almost uncanny. Their mother's were both dead, their father's were jerks, and they both died unfinished lives.   
  
Gena made sure to right down all the information, so that she could accurately relay the info back to her friends.  
  
"So, are you finding what you're looking for?" the young man asked, as he was reading over her shoulders. The smell of fresh burgers and French fries hung in the air.  
  
"Yes, I did," Gena said. She decided to let him know a little bit about what was going on. "You know that room that's boarded up?"   
  
"Yeah, on the second floor right?"   
  
"Yes. Anyway, I heard the stories about it; that a girl died there. I want to see if the stories are true. So, I am researching a name that I had come across," she paused and pointed to the newspaper. "See this one right here; she lived on this campus in the 1800s when this place used to be a flourishing plantation."   
  
"Lilea, huh. So, what happened to her?"   
  
Gena thought about it for a minute. Would it be wise to let this stranger in on what had happened the night before?  
  
"So far, all I know is that she was born in 1810 and that her mom died," she pointed to the obituaries, "while giving birth to her. I also know Lilea got killed. That's all I really know." Gena continued to scan through the newspapers, mostly for the announcements made. There was nothing, until she came across one that made her skin crawl.   
  
"John de Vincent to wed Katarina de Swarte at Magnolia on the twentieth of April, in the year of our Lord 1827. Katarina is twenty years de Vincent's junior," she read aloud.  
  
"So, he was a skanky old man then...liking younger women like that."   
  
"What's worse is that he married a woman who was the same age as his daughter! That's really gross," Gena said, feeling disgusted. She continued to flip through the book, looking sharply for obituaries that would reveal Lilea's fate. But, there were none. No headline saying 'Girl Plummets to Death at Magnolia'. No obituary revealing that Lilea's soul was any longer on Earth. Nothing; like she had never died.   
  
"So, what does it say about her death? Anything?" the boy asked curiously.   
  
"Nothing. Not one word about it. It's so strange."  
  
"Oh, by the way, I brought you a cheeseburger, fries, and a soda. I thought it would be rude if I got some stuff for myself and didn't bring you anything. I hope you don't mind." He smiled at her and she felt like she was melting into her chair.   
  
"Wow, thank you. You're the first guy that's been nice to me in quite a while," Gena said as she began to eat some of the crispy, over-salted fries. She sipped her soda and started to talk again. "So, do you live on campus?"   
  
"Yeah, I lived on the third floor but I just moved down to second floor for this month. Can you believe it? One month before school ends they make me move down because they have to do a 'deep cleaning' of my room. I bet they haven't even touched the doorknob yet."   
  
"That sucks. What room are you in?" She subconsciously flipped her hair back and started to play with it. After five hundred years, flirting came very natural to her. She noticed the way he looked at her. Gena liked it.   
  
"Uh...222."   
  
"Wow, mine is 223. You're right across the hall from me. How come I never see you around?"   
  
"Most of my friends are on the third floor, so I still tend to hang out up there most often," he paused for a minute with a look of deep thinking on his face. "Wait a minute...room 223. You were the one making all that noise last night. The guitar, the singing, and then 'the scream heard round the dorm'. I was the guy who called last night; remember? So, you're a party girl, huh?" He gave her a mischievous smile and a wink that drove her crazy. She didn't know what was coming over her.   
  
"Guilty as charged. I was playing the guitar and we got a little out of control I guess. Sorry if I disturbed you."   
  
"It's no prob. I was just finishing up studying for my history final." Her look alone already asked the next question. "I'm an education major focusing on history."   
  
"I'm a fashion design major, with an art and performing art minor."  
  
"Sounds like a lot of work," he said.   
  
"It is. I'm actually getting ready for my final and my dance recital all this week."   
  
"So you're in the recital? Then I'll definitely come."   
  
She felt her cheeks become flush with admiration. The two talked for hours; they gossiped, laughed, and talked about nothing in particular. She had never had so much fun, or laughed so hard, in all her life. Gena had decided that, although she didn't want to leave, she had to let Zo know what she had found out about their ghost.   
  
"Well, I gotta go. I'm sorry for running off," she went to walk away when he grabbed her and gave her the sweetest kiss she had ever received. His lips were soft and warm, with a hint of salt. Her instincts kicked in and she kissed back, wanting him. He backed away from her with an embarrassed look on his face.   
  
"I didn't mean to...I'm so..." he stammered.   
  
"It's ok, really," she paused and held out her hand. "By the way my name is Gena, Gena Salvatore." As she shook his hand, he began to laugh out of relief. He probably thought she was going to deck him.   
  
"Well, it's nice to meet you, Gena. My name is Clark, Gavin Clark."   
  
She was in shock. Did he say Gavin? Lilea's words flowed through her head like a never-ending song. _'Gena, Gavin is the one...Gena, Gavin is the one...'_   
  
"I'm sorry, I really have to go. I'll see you later," she said as she ran out the door to find Zoë.


	5. A Haunting Past

"Ok, so the chick has no death record and her father is a pervert? That's all we have? That really sucks," Zoë said, as she sat on her floor in the dark. They were hoping that they could keep Em and Hannah out of this if the light was turned off.   
  
"Well, that's all I could find. I think we need to do something drastic to solve this," Gena said.   
"Like..."  
  
"Like break into the room." Zoë started to laugh. "And how do you propose we do that? Are we going to take a sledgehammer to the wall? I'm sure the Dean would love that."   
  
"No. We just have to get on the balcony and break in through the window."   
  
"The windows don't open that much for a person to fit through. Unless you were like Kate Moss or something," Zoë said. "Plus, if you're caught on the balcony, let alone breaking into the room, you'll be so busted."   
  
"We won't get caught, Zo. I promise. Now, will you do this with me? Please?"   
  
"What if this is all hooey? Give me another good reason," Zoë said, hoping that Gena didn't have another one.   
"Gavin. He's real. I met him today. He actually helped me research all this. Not only is a real person, but we kissed today," Gena said, feeling embarrassed that she had behaved in such a way when she had another boyfriend.   
  
"Oh my goddess. So, you really met him?" Gena nodded in reply.  
  
"Oh, ok. That's really weird...well, I guess if she predicted that, I'm game tonight."  
  
"Alright, now's as good a time as any. Let's move your bed out of the way and get to the window."  
  
The two moved the bed to the middle of the room. Gena went over to the window and pushed it up all the way, bending screws and nails that were supposed to prevent it from going so high. She was the first on the balcony.   
  
"Damn Salvatore," Zoë said in disbelief. "How the hell did you do that?"   
  
"What can I say, I eat my wheaties," she said with a smile.  
  
Zoë and Gena crept to the old window. Gena saw that is was opened a little on the bottom, and she forced the rest of the window open with little resistance. Mildew and musk hung in the air as the girls made their way. The two girls entered the dark room, the velvet of the fine curtains against their backs. It was dark in the room, with only the light of the moon from the outside shedding any light.  
  
"It's too dark in here, Salvatore. We should have brought a flash..." Before Zoë could finish her sentence, a candle in the corner of the room light up the room. Both girls screamed. "We got to get out of here Gena! Right now!"  
  
Gena caught her breath. "Relax, it's ok. Let's look around really quick and get the hell out of here." With the candles flickering a warm glow on the objects in the room, there was an eerie feel. The once elegant walls and cherry wood floors were now peeling and rotting away. The furniture that was left in the room had been covered in sheets that were once white, but now gray with dust. The only thing that looked as if it had been used in the last hundred years was the candle that was once again burning brightly. They looked around the room, hoping not stumble across Lilea, in body or spirit. Gena noticed a table that had what looked to be letters. She went in for a closer look and saw that there were three letters: one to her father, one to Jeremiah, and one that was blank.  
  
"Zo, I think I found something," Gena said as she held up the letters for Zoë to see. "I'm going to take these back to the room; I left my window open too. Let's get out of here."  
  
Zoë went and blew out the candle and headed out of the room. Once on the balcony, the girls closed the window to the ancient room. They stood on the balcony, looking over the campus.  
  
"Wow, it's really beautiful out here..." Gena's hunter senses kicked in. Someone was watching them. She looked around the campus, searching for the presence. Then, she saw it. A girl. Standing in the side garden, her long hair cascading down the back of her white nightgown. But, she could see right through her.  
  
"Oh shit, Gena," Zoë said, as her body started to shake. They both looked at each other and started to run. 

"Ok, so what the hell was that?" Zoë said after she was in the safe confines of Gena's room. Gena didn't answer; she was too busy speed-reading through the letters. They were hand written by Lilea on the day of her death.

_ 'You think I have a case of lunacy, but I assure you Father that I have not. You think to lock me up in my room will cure me. To be surrounded by four walls with no exit way is enough to drive anyone to the brink of insanity, but I can assure you by my Mother that I am sane. Someone who means to do harm to both you and I is afflicting me. The pain I feel is worse than a thousand swords. She is to blame. She, who is the devil; who sold her soul to the night world. I beg you Father; let me flee so that I may bring about an end to her hatred…'_

She began to read the one addressed to Jeremiah; _'Dearest one, if you are reading this, then I have departed. My life was short, but the moments I spent with you will last all eternity. You are my heart, my soul; which I must leave behind. I can not live with the presence of evil in my home any longer. I must cleanse my soul of things I have seen. Forgive me…'_

She then handed the two letters over to Zoë. Gena opened the final letter, the one with the blank envelope, and began to read; _'You, who are the devil! You, who taketh lives and giveth nothing in return! You, who tortured my soul, my body, my mind, and broke my heart into shards of glass! A curse upon you! You have not won, nor will you ever win! You take my Father's love and leave me with nothing, yet I am still here! You make my Father believe me to be insane for saying that you are an incorporeal being, but I am strong in my convictions! You take my one true love and manipulate him to fornicate, and yet I am still here and in love with that man! You can not break me, nor will you ever…'_

After she finished reading, she handed the last letter over to Zoë in silence.

"Whoa…what were these letters all about? Especially that last one. Who is the 'evil one' she keeps referring to," Zoë asked after she finished the unmarked latter.

"I don't know, but what I read from that last letter, she was a real bitch."

"Hey, G, what does 'incorporeal being' mean," Zoë asked.

"It means like a spook. It was used in the old days as another word for demon, ghost, zombie, poltergeist …and vampires," Gena said, trying to educate Zoë.

"Vampires? Give me a break! Vamps aren't real," Zoë said, looking a bit nervous. "Do you believe in vampires, Salvatore?" A slight grin came across Gena's face.

"In this world, anything is possible."

* * *

Gena noticed that her hands were dirty so she went to her pedestal sink to rinse them of the old dust. She turned the hot water on slightly. Steaming hot water spewed out of the faucet, causing Gena to jump back. 

_'I really need to get that fixed. I wish the maintenance was a little better around here,'_ she thought.

"Um, G…Look at your mirror," Zoë said, with a tone in her voice that personified fright. Gena looked up at her mirror and stared at it in disbelief. The fogged up glass was slowing showing a message, as if someone had rubbed his or her fingers against it. Slowly, the entire message formed; 'come to me'. They both knew whom it was from.

"Should we go back inside?" Zoë asked. She was shaking from head to toe.

"I'm going to go. You can stay here if you want to, Zo. I'll be fine."

"The hell you will…if you are going, I'm going to go." The two friends went back out the window and to the old room. As they entered, they could feel that the atmosphere had changed. It was much colder, so cold that the two could see their breath. Then, in the corner, they saw something appear and walk forward. It was Lilea. All three looked at each other, frightened and dumbfounded at the same time.

"H-Hello…Lilea," Gena began. "I'm Gena. I want to help you. To find out what happened. I read your letters." Lilea responded with a look of satisfaction, as if she had waited so long for someone to know her story. "I know about the woman, who you said was evil. What did she do to you, how did she harm you?"

Lilea nodded with a sense of understanding, as she gliding over to an end table. On the table was a box, which she opened and pulled out what looked to be a doll. She picked up the doll and pulled out what looked to be a pin; she held the pin high and pierced the doll. Gena fell over with a moan, grabbing her stomach, which felt as if they were being pulled out with out an incision. Then she saw it, the whole thing. Lilea was at the table, finishing the letters and she was about to make her escape out the window. She knew she could survive the jump. As she was about to jump off the balcony, she felt a pain that threw her off balance and made her fall on her back. The pain in her neck and spine swelled and her eyesight went darker. The last thing she saw was a figure on the balcony with the voodoo doll in her hand.

"Gena!" Zoë screamed, as she tried to lift her friend back up to her feet. Gena looked up at Lilea, who pulled the pin out of the soft, worn doll. She placed it back in the box. Gena regained her composure and stood up. Lilea walked over to her and started to cry. Her sobs sounded as if they echoed not just through the hall, but also through time itself. She looked at Gena, and Gena could feel that she was sorry she had used the doll on her, but it was the only way to show what Lilea had really gone through. Gena sent Lilea a thought telepathically.

_'It's ok, Lilea. I understand now; I'm not mad. I'm going to let everyone know what happened to you.'_ Lilea looked at her, with a slight smile. She then glided over to the window and pointed out towards the garden. Lilea's form then began to fade, and then disappeared before the stunned girls' eyes.

"Ok, Salvatore, let's get the HELL out of here," Zoë said, as she pushed her way towards the door. The two girls made their way to the safety of Zo's room, when Gena stopped them.

"Wait, she pointed to the garden. Let's go," She said to Zo, who looked absolutely terrified. "I need to know what she wanted down there, Zoë." Zoë nodded in agreement, and they made there way through the school and down to the garden. After an hour, they found what they were looking for. A small, unmarked headstone was barely visible through the lilac bushes. It was Lilea's headstone; her final resting place. Lilea didn't want to hurt or scare anyone; she had only wanted to be known. Gena could sympathize.


	6. Love and War

Gena was awakened from her nap with a knock at the door. She sleepily made her way and opened the door to a smiling, familiar face.  
  
"Hey Gena, what are you doing napping in mid afternoon?" Gavin said, as he closed the door behind him. He pulled her close and gave her a warm, soothing hug. The two moved over to the soft, welcoming couch. The pair sat next to each other; Gena moved closer and leaned her weary head on his strong shoulder. "So, how did your project go today? Did you bomb your presentation," he asked  
  
"It went very well. The class was surprised when I brought in all of my antique outfits. I got an A," she said with a smile. She sighed happily; the memories of the past days swept through her mind. They had known each other for four wonderful days now. It had all happened so fast. After their introduction in the computer lab, all Gena could think about was him. His presence even seemed to take away her resurrected thoughts of Will. After the evening with Lilea, she couldn't sleep. She went out to feed, to see if leaving the old plantation would relieve her feelings, but it wasn't enough. Gena tried to get back to sleep when she returned and was greeted with twisted thoughts of Lilea tangled with her own past. Seeing Lilea's descent into darkness through her own eyes only made her own memories more vivid. She was dying all over again. Gena finally had enough, but she didn't know whom she could turn to. Could Zoë handle her grief? Maybe Philip could ease some of her pain? Then Lilea's words again echoed in her mind. _'Gavin is the one.'_ That's exactly who she turned to.  
  
He had been warm and welcoming when she knocked on his door at four in the morning. Gena looked horrible. She stood in front of him in her pajamas; her disheveled hair matted against her in a cold sweat. She looked at his sweet face through swollen eyes. Gavin's warm brown eyes filled with compassion as he took her into his arms. She finally gave out and fell to the floor, grief finally over powering what was left of her strong exterior. He knelt down beside her, stroked her hair and kissed her cold forehead. Gena then felt strong, loving arms wrap around her shivering body. He picked her up and carried her over to his soft bed. Gavin laid her body down and he sat comfortably beside her.  
  
"Do you want to tell me what's wrong, sweetheart?" he said, as he lightly brushed her ebony hair back from her face. She looked up at him, his face full of concern. She heard his thoughts with her mind. _'Why am I taking in this woman, who is almost a stranger? Why am I so drawn to her? Am I going crazy? What's wrong with her; why is she so sad?'  
  
_ "I'm sorry to bother you this early in the morning," Gena said, trying to gain her composure. "I just didn't know who to go to...I'm not feeling very well."  
  
"I would say so. What's bothering you?"  
  
"I can't sleep. Every time I close my eyes, I have these horrible nightmares."  
  
"Anything that could have brought these nightmares on? Bad café food or something," he asked softly.  
  
"Yes...it has to do with that Lilea girl you helped me research," she paused to think about what she was going to tell him. "Never mind, you'll never believe this."  
  
"Try me. I've had kind of a weird life already. This will just add to the list."  
  
She told him the whole story; the sleepover, the Ouija board experience, the research, breaking into the room, the letters, Lilea's spirit communicating, the voodoo doll, her vision of Lilea's death, and the headstone. He looked at her with a shocked look on his face. She lowered her eyes in embarrassment.  
  
"You think I'm nuts, don't you Gavin," she said with a defeated tone in her voice. If he didn't believe this, than he wasn't 'the one'.  
  
"No, actually I don't. I don't think a reasonably sound person such as you would make something up that crazy." He believed her, for some stupid reason her believed every word she said, no matter how crazy he would have thought otherwise. "Is there something else besides that bothering you?"  
  
She thought about it for a moment. What could she tell him; _'Oh yeah, when I was seventeen years old in fifteenth century Florence, my husband and I ran off after being together for three days, only to be murdered in cold blood. Oh, I forgot to add that I had been changed into a vampire.'_ Then he'd think she was nuts.  
  
"It just brings back bad suppressed memories," she said.  
  
"Like what? What happened?" He grabbed hold of her hand and stroked it gently.  
  
"When I was seventeen, my husband was killed in front of me. He was murdered by a jealous prick...," she paused, and tried to hold back the tears. _'Why am I telling him all of this? I've only known him for a day...but it feels like I've known him forever.'_   
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to bring you into this," she said, feeling guilty to lay the burden on Gavin.  
  
"Gena," he said as he looked deep into her eyes, "it's ok. I understand how that can traumatize a person. I...I watched someone I loved die in front of me too." A look of hurt and longing came over his face.  
  
"I'm sorry," Gena said, feeling guilty for making bringing up horrible memories for both of them.  
  
He sighed deeply. "It's ok. I just want you to be ok. You need to get some sleep. No more nightmares." As he stroked her hair, she felt herself falling deeper into sleep.  
  
The next two days had been spent just cuddling and watching television all day. Gena's friends were starting to wonder what was going on with the two, which she always answered "We're just friends." That was true until last night.  
  
Gavin went to Gena's room to say goodnight. Gena wasn't expecting him, so she was already in her pajamas; a comfortable tank top and cotton panties. He knocked on her door.  
  
"Hold on a min..."  
  
It was too late; Gavin was already in the room. He was staring at her now, a look of pure surprise on his face. His skin flushed pink as he tried not to look, but he couldn't help himself.  
  
"I just came to say goodnight," Gav said, as he quickly went over to kiss her and then depart. But he didn't depart; their kiss deepened and he didn't leave.  
  
The next morning, they awoke in each other's arms. It had been the most magical night in Gena's life.  
  
Gavin turned over to look at Gena. "I love you, Gena. I'm not just saying that. I don't know what is happening with this whole thing. Why someone like you likes me...why I went to bed with you last night. But, I know that it feels right." He leaned in and kissed her.  
  
Then a knock came from the door.  
  
"Oh shit," Gena said as she realized she had made the worst mistake you could make when you had someone in your room; she had left the door unlocked.  
  
Gena and Gavin jumped out of bed and started to make them selves more presentable but it was too late. Zoë stood in the room, a look of confirmation written all over her face.

* * *

"No, Philip! Why can't we just hang out? I'm so sick of being this school's 'king and queen'! All you want to do is flaunt me around like I'm some goddamned prize and then get me to your bed; that's not what I want! What happened to you? You used to care about me; now the only thing you care about is your own damn reputation!"

There. She had finally said it. All those months of being treated like an object had taken its toll. She was just sick of it. Her courage welled up despite her constant thoughts to give in.

"Where the hell did this come from?!? You were happy with me…remember?"

"But I'm not now! Why can't you just understand that?

"Fine, Gena. But, I know you'll just come running back to me one day."

"You just keep on telling yourself that, Phil. Maybe one day you'll get your fairy tale princess who doesn't give a damn what you do."

With that, Philip strode out of the room and slammed her door. Gena pulled her arms around herself protectively, trying to decide if what she did was the right thing to do.


	7. Moving On

_'The room sure looks different,'_ she thought silently to herself as she taped up the last box. It was finally time to move out of school and time to start her life again. She heard Zo yelling at her mom in the hall. Gena made her way to her friend's room, the one that she always went to when things went wrong.

"Hey there Zo, need any help?" Gena picked up one of Zo's many boxes. The girl couldn't live in her dorm with out having all the amenities of home. Zoë was surprised that she didn't just bring her whole room.

"It's ok, G. I've got it covered. My dad took most of the boxes to the car already. So, I heard you and Philip had a fight. What a way to leave."

"Yeah. C'est La Vie. What ever happens is going to happen. You can call it fate I guess."

"It's still sad though. After all this time seeing you apart. But, now you have Gavin. He's a nice guy; more your type anyway."

"He's really something." Just thinking about him brought a sweet smile to Gena's face.

"You never were that happy when you thought about Philip. I think Gavin really is the one, although it does seem kinda _Matrix_ like."

"Well Zo, here's the number where I'll be living. I have to go finish packing and get ready to leave." Gena pulled Zo into and embrace. The two friends held each other close, each feeling a mutual love and respect.

"I still can't believe you have a house already…stupid family inheritance. I'll call you when I get a phone, Salvatore."

Gena went pack to her packing. She was anxious to get started on this new path of hers, while reluctant to leave all she had at Magnolia.

"Hey, why so glum?" Gavin came up from behind and wrapped his arms around her. She was enveloped in his warmth.

"Oh, nothing. I'm just reminiscing."

"It's ok to do that, sweetie. Just think about all the fun we are going to have after school." He moved his hands up and down her arms, causing a slight shiver to run through her entire being. She felt herself turning around to face him and then felt his soft lips slightly graze hers.

"Oh, I get it, so he's the reason why you left me." Philip stood in the doorway carefully taking in the scene. The lovers were caught.

"Left him?" Gavin looked down at Gena with a questioning gaze.

"Gavin, Philip and I were going out, but …" How could she explain what she had done. She always forgot completely about Phil as soon as Gavin took her in his arms. It was inexcusable. Her face brightened as red as the scarlet letter she wore on her soul.

"So you did have a boyfriend and you never mentioned it to me at all. Not once. I would have never done anything with you if I'd known you were with someone else!"

Philip strode up to Gena and looked her in the eyes. His hand raised and she felt the sting of his palm upon her face.

"You're a whore. Don't you ever forget that." Philip turned and walked out of the room.

Gena stood there, rubbing her already swollen cheek. A memory flashed through her mind: Dante standing in the room slapping her and calling her all sorts of heathen names. Her gaze landed on Gavin, whose eyes she dared not meet. He had stood there, saw Philip slap her, and he didn't do anything to defend her.

"I never meant to hurt you. Gavin, I…I'm sorry."

"Not as sorry as I am." He paused to pick up a box, not meeting her eyes. "Come on; let's get your car packed up."

They carried her belongings down to her car in silence. At one point, there hands had brushed against each other in the struggle to pick up the same box, and he pulled his away in disgust. Unwelled tears blurred Gena's vision as she finished the last of her belongings. The pair stood in front of her car in uncomfortable silence.

"Here's the number of my house," she said as she handed him the folded piece of paper. He took it from her and threw it in with his luggage.

"I don't think I'll ever need it."

* * *

Before she left campus, she took one last walk through the halls. In the main hallway was a set of portraits that she had never seen before. One was of an older man and the other two were of young women. She read the names of the people. The sullen blonde girl in the old-fashioned red dress was Lilea. Gena continued down the row until she came to one that made her blood cold. It was the portrait of Katarina de Swarte. She stared it, her mouth hanging wide open. The portrait's cold blue eyes stared back at her, piercing her already damaged soul.  
  
"It can't be," she said aloud.  
  
She couldn't deny it because she knew that woman in the painting. Katarina de Swarte was none other than Katherine Von Swartzchild. Katherine must have used the old man to live off of and somehow Lilea found out she was a vampire. No wonder she had felt a connection to Lilea; they had been hurt by the same evil person. With that, she left the building and fled to her vehicle.

Gena got into her new car and began to drive. The tears she had held in for so long finally released as she was driving, making it hard for her to drive. She never looked back at Magnolia when she drove off. If Gavin was the one, he was gone and she was alone once again.


	8. Gone for Good

This time it was really over. Bonnie packed up her things as quickly as she possibly could. She had called Elena and made arrangements to stay with her and Stefan. Damon walked into the bedroom doorway, leaning against the dark frame. He looked straight at Bonnie with those endless black eyes. Those same eyes that used to make her melt with one quick glance now only made her want to run away.  
  
"You know I'm not as ignorant as you take me for, Bonnie. I'm sure everyone's savior Stefan is going to take you in with open arms."  
  
"So what, Damon! Where else am I going to go?" Her eyes were glossed over with mourning. Bonnie didn't really want to go, but she couldn't live the same way she had for years.  
  
"Maybe back home to mommy and dad?" The vampire said hurtfully, knowing that her parents had shunned her after Bonnie moved in with him. "But seriously, I hope you enjoy the single life. I know I will." He gave her a slight sadistic smile, while his heart was begging her to stay.  
  
_'Go to her! Hold her and never let her go!'_ his mind screamed. But he could not; it was for the best.  
  
"Didn't we have this conversation the last time we broke up? I can't deal with this anymore! I wish I had never left Matt for you!" Bonnie's voice started to crack; her once strong woman exterior was falling to reveal a hurt little girl. Her soul told her to stay and be happy, but she knew it was a betrayal.  
  
"Damon, I'm going. I have things that I need to accomplish on my own. I need to train my powers with out you. I can't play house with you anymore, not when all you do is eventually push me away. Good bye." Bonnie hurriedly picked up her bag and left the apartment with a slam of the door.  
  
Damon stood alone in the bedroom; their bedroom. He didn't dare go after her; it was her choice to leave. It was for the best for she was in danger whenever he was around. Damon wouldn't see her hurt again. He looked around and was surrounded by the memories of days spent being friends together and nights spent in each other's arms. They faded into obscure forms and then vanished. He delicately picked up a picture of her from his nightstand. Those honey eyes looked back at him with love, a few stray red hairs in their way. He stroked the picture, hoping he could feel her rich, gracious lips again; never again.  
  
Damon's grief was replaced with a sense of foreboding as the phone in the apartment began to ring.

* * *

_I still get lost in your eyes  
And it seems like I can't live a day without you  
Closing my eyes till you chase my thoughts away  
To a place where I am blinded by the light but it's not right   
__Goodbye to you  
__Goodbye to everything that I knew  
__You were the one I loved   
__The one thing that I tried to hold on to_

The lyrics that came out of the cab stereo were a little too close to home.   
Bonnie could feel a tear escape her tightly closed eyes.

_ 'Not now,'_ she told herself. _'Be strong.'_ She calmed her shaking body.

"Um, sir," she addressed the cab driver, "can you turn off the radio, please?"

He nodded in a polite response and clicked the radio off.

Bonnie began to feel weak and dizzy as she stared out the car window. Her body felt frozen and still.

_ 'Oh god, not a vision, not now.'_

She was in a grape field on a bright starry night. A somber stone altar stood in the middle of the green vines. Then the stars blinked out, and everything went completely dark. She could hear chanting and then screaming.

"Miss, are you ok," the cab driver asked from the driver's seat.

"Yes, I'm fine. I just have to make a phone a call." Bonnie pulled her silver cell phone from her black leather purse.

"Hello, Elena. What happened?"

* * *

The police had said it was a homicide. He had died in Europe, not too far from Stefan and Damon's old villa in Florence. They didn't go into the details of the crime, but she knew in her heart that it had been brutal. Alaric was gone. He had promised her forever, and after four years as her husband he left. No, he was taken from her.

She told him not to go there, that it was too dangerous. But the adventurer in him took him to where angels, let alone vampires, feared to tread. It was his work over his wife.

Meredith hadn't moved from her bed since the funeral a week before. She didn't care about her job, her friends, and her old life. Elena and Bonnie had spent the last week trying to get her out and about. They had told her that Stefan and Damon had gone to Italy to go find out what happened. She didn't care; nothing mattered anymore. She just wanted to sink into the soft mattress that she had shared with her husband. If she closed her eyes hard enough, she could feel him curled up behind her, his soft breath against her neck and his arms tight around her. They were only fabrications because in reality he was six feet in the cold ground. She felt the tears well up in her dry eyes. Strong Meredith, who was known for her stoic demeanor in extreme situations, was bawling like a child who lost their mother in a department store. She was alone.


	9. A New Home

Gena was glad that she had moved to Spring Grove. It was a somewhat rural area, but it had plenty of access to the city. The warm September breeze in the burbs was pleasant, but the city was much better for hunting.  
  
Gena finished painting her bathroom and put down the brush.  
  
_'It's finally done.'  
_  
She had worked on remodeling her house for the last month or so. Her house wasn't too large, but it wasn't tiny either. It was modest size for her, but that didn't say much since she grew up in a sprawling villa. The house had only one bedroom, two bathrooms, a living room, and a kitchen. The garage had an apartment built above it, which she decided to rent out to people. She had repainted the whole house to match her tastes, which consisted of warmer colors of red and gold. The only thing she had built was a stable in the backyard. Gena had bought two horses from a local farmer who was getting rid of his animals; she took the brown and grey horses home with her.  
  
Gena sat down on her couch with her laptop on her knees, reading the emails from work. The fashion design world was a non-stop realm of excitement and deadlines. Luckily she was off from work tomorrow, which gave her time to just lounge and relax. She lay down and turned the television on with the remote. She started to drift off to sleep when the doorbell rang. She got up out of her bemused state and opened the door.  
  
She stood there as she looked upon his face. He looked at her, his eyes dead. A million thoughts went through her head at once.  
  
_ 'How dare he come here! After all this time and not even a phone call! He returned all of my letters back to me! Why didn't he email? How did he find out where I live? Does he even think about me anymore? '  
_  
She stared at him not saying a word. Her arms crossed in front of her in a defensive stance.  
  
"I know I shouldn't be here, but I didn't know what to do. I got kicked out of my house and I have nowhere else to go. I thought that maybe you would take me in out of the goodness of your heart."  
  
"Gavin, how did you find me?"  
  
"I looked up your address using your phone number online. I hope it's all right. I didn't have anybody else that could help me. But, if you can't, then I understand." He turned to go back to his car.  
  
"Gavin, wait...if you need a place to stay, you can stay in the apartment above my garage. It only has a bedroom and a bathroom, but it's a nice size. But I'm going to have to charge you rent like I do all the other people who use it."  
  
"That's fine. I'll find a job so I can pay for it." He started to move back to his car to grab his belongings. "Gena, thank you." 


	10. A Happy Homecoming?

_'He's coming home today,'_ she thought to herself as she pulled her blonde hair into a sensible ponytail.  
  
Stefan and Damon had been away for two months in Europe searching for anyone who might have answers to Alaric's death. Poor Meredith. Elena couldn't imagine what she has gone through these past months. She heard the door creaked open and slammed as someone entered the cozy home. Elena made her way hastily down the stairs and threw herself into her husband's arms. She never wanted to leave his arms again; two months was long enough. What made it worse this time than any other was the loss of Alaric. A thousands thoughts of 'what if' ran through her head. Over her love's shoulder she could see Damon, looking down with a hurt on his face.  
  
Stefan kissed her cheek and let her down.  
  
"So, how was your guy's flight," Elena asked as she moved towards Stefan's brother. She hugged him tightly and kissed his cheek.  
  
"So, how's my sister-in-law," Damon said as he reached to poke her sides.  
  
"Stop it," she yelped while moving away from his arms. "I'm fine."  
  
"Nothing weird happened while I was gone," Stefan asked.  
  
"Just the usual sacrificial burnings and such," a voice said from the stairs. The trio looked up to where the voice had drifted. Bonnie stood at the top of the descent examining the scene very carefully. Her eyes landed on Damon and she quickly averted her gaze back to the happy couple. Damon lowered his eyes and nodded in comprehension.  
  
"So," Bonnie continued, "any news about Alaric?"  
  
"No. We located the place where he was murdered, but there was nothing there that would reveal anything significant," Damon replied. The whole time he did not take his eyes off the floor.  
  
"It looks like he was looking for some kind of holy ground outside of Florence. It was a legend of some sort I suppose. Witches from that circle were burned at the stake in the old days."  
  
"Oh, that's lovely." Bonnie rolled her eyes at the ignorance of people. She probably would have been burned back then too. "So, Stefan, what did this place look like?"  
  
Damon responded instead.  
  
"It was in the middle of a vineyard. There were stones laid in a perfect circle on the ground and in the middle..."  
  
"There was a granite altar, although it did have some nice marble on the top. It also has words written in Latin I believe," Bonnie said. Stefan and Damon looked at each other with shocked looks on their faces.  
  
"Bonnie had a vision of that same place," Elena said. "She said it got dark towards the end and she couldn't see anything, but she could hear chanting and screaming."  
  
"Hmmm, interesting. Maybe the little witch will be of some use after all," Damon said sarcastically.  
  
"Well gee, Damon, if you had something on your mind, why don't you just come out and say it!" Bonnie growled at him. The two looked at each, making the other couple in the room very uncomfortable.  
  
"Alright, I will..." Damon said, standing up to his ex.  
  
"No," Stefan stepped in and stopped the altercation. He addressed his brother first.   
  
"That's enough. It's been two months, Damon." He then moved his gaze to the top of the stairs to Bonnie. "It's time you both move on and just learn to live with each other."  
  
"Yeah, especially if you guys are both living here. I can't live with...," Elena professed before the elder of the Salvatore brothers chimed in.  
  
"No need to worry yourself about that, dear sister. I'm getting a penthouse. I couldn't live here either, and I'm not going to burden you with that."  
  
"Oh, really. Are you acting as the savior now? Do you think acting like your brother and saving Elena from seeing our fights will bring you and her closer? ," Bonnie said, with a devilish grin on her face.  
  
Damon's almond eyes became slits as he looked up at his ex-lover.  
  
"No, I wasn't thinking about that, Bon. And you can go to hell."  
  
"You first," she replied back.  
  
Damon growled at her before he opened the door and quickly exited the obviously too crowded home.

* * *

Bonnie remained at the top of the stairs, the echo of the door slamming still in her head. He was gone again, but this time _he_ had left.

Elena and Stefan looked up at her with questioning eyes. She shielded herself more tightly; knowing well that Stefan could read her thoughts if she was not protected. She couldn't have him prying around inside her head. Not now.

When she had seen him at the bottom of the stairs, her heart skipped beats. He was absolutely gorgeous as usual. His ebony hair was a little longer than before and his eyes were still depthless. She had really wanted to run down the stairs and jump in his arms as Elena had done to Stefan. But she didn't. Instead she stood her ground and got into another fight. It was the same thing over and over again. Why couldn't they live together? It was a lost cause. For goddess' sake, they had only been in the room for two minutes together after two long months of being apart and they still managed to fight!

Oh, how she had longed to feel his skin and his arms around her. She wanted to watch his lips as he said 'I love you' like he had done so many times before. But it was not to be. It was over.

"Bonnie, I know it's hard, but we all have to get along," Elena said as she made her way up to console her friend. She put her arm around her and let Bonnie's head rest on her slender shoulder.

"I know, Elena. I'm over him, I really am."

"If you are, then why would you fight with him? Do you still consider him your friend at least?"

"After all we've been through and all we've shared together? Of course he's my friend…at least I want him to be."

"Then don't verbally attack him anymore, Bonnie. It's over. Start your friendship again."

"I verbally attacked him? What about…"

"Bonnie, I know how he is too! Don't put the blame on him and not yourself; you are just as guilty by pushing his buttons when you know exactly what pisses him off! I'm not scolding you alone. Stefan is going to talk to Damon. I'm not going to live like two separate people around you two."

Bonnie wanted to yell at Elena and tell her to shut up. But why? Was it because Elena was right? Bonnie did know how to piss Damon off; she used to jokingly do it all the time.

"Alright, Elena. I'll _try_ and be nice around him again."

"That's all I ask, Bonnie. I love both of you too much to see you guys' fight like this. And I know that deep down there's still a love that both of you have."


	11. Seconds Seem Like Hours

Meredith sat alone on her bed watching the clock slowly tick by. The seconds seemed like hours, ticking by slowly as every minute drew closer. She clutched her wedding picture in her hands, holding it so tightly that the glass looked as if it were about to shatter under the pressure. His eyes, full of life and hope looked up at her smiling. She felt a tear roll down her cheek and fall onto his beautiful face, the liquid making his face seem obscured and deformed. Meredith looked at her past in the picture. She had been so happy and so ready to spend eternity with him. Something had taken it away. Every dream and every hope she had died with Alaric. There was nothing left to live for, but so much more to die for. She had thought about it, taking her own life. In the end, she was too much of a coward and afraid of what death might bring so she pleaded to God to end her life and unite her with her husband. There was no answer. Hell, she had even thought about asking Damon or Stefan just to drain her dry of life, but she knew neither of them would succumb to her plea.  
  
She looked to the clock and then to the mirror across from her bed. Nothing in her wedding picture resembled her now. Her eyes were red and dry from staying up all night and the bags under her eyes were a plum shade of purple. Meredith must have aged five years in two months.  
  
Ding! The timer in the bedroom went off. Meredith slowly got up and moved towards the bathroom. Her feet felt like lead as she lifted each one and forced them to keep moving forward. She opened the door and moved cautiously towards the marble counter and picked up the slender piece of white plastic that lay on top. With trembling hands she looked down at it with shock. Two pink lines now sealed her fate. She was pregnant. 


	12. A Revealing Evening

It had only been a few weeks since Gavin had moved back in with her. In the beginning, he shied away from her and the other house living in complete solitude. Whenever he saw her, he'd run back into his apartment. She wondered if every time he looked at her he saw the betrayal. She wondered why every time she looked at him she wanted to shake some sense into him. All he did was sulk and it was driving her crazy! His air of depression was even filtering onto her, making it almost impossible to work happily. What relationship the two had once had didn't matter because it was over.  
  
But then something changed. He'd make up excuses to go to her house. Then he started to come over to the house and watch television with her. The two started to talk and laugh together again. Gavin had even picked flowers for her to keep in the house. Now after two weeks of being reacquainted, the spark that was once gone had somehow reignited in the two friends, even if it was only a flicker of what they once had.  
  
"Gavin, I'm sorry if I ever hurt you. I honestly, with all my heart, didn't mean to betray you. Not you. What I did was wrong and there was no excuse for it," Gena said looking deep into his dark brown eyes.  
  
"I know, Gena. Now that I know what you went through with Philip, I understand. It hurt though, what you did. After I left school, I thought about nothing except you...and losing you. I shouldn't have sent those letters back with out reading them. Then I would have known sooner about how you were treated by that jerk."  
  
"Oh Gavin. It's in the past. I will never forgive myself for what happened, but I want to get passed it. Please don't turn away again."  
  
"I won't. I care about you, Gena. I don't want you to forget that," he said warmly. "Hey you," he said while trying to tickle her sides. She fought him off quite easily for which he was very surprised. "Get dressed. We're going out to dinner tonight."  
  
"Are you serious?" Gena asked with an anticipated grin on her face.  
  
"I'm dead serious. You have, oh, ten minutes to get ready starting ....now."  
  
Gena ran upstairs to her room and opened up her closet. She found a pair of Capri jeans and a cute strapless olive-colored top. She quickly got dressed, brushed her hair, and put on a little make-up. Before she knew it, she had gotten ready quicker than she ever had before.  
  
_'Boy am I glad that I had showered earlier today. Otherwise I would have taken me an hour and ten minutes to get ready.'  
  
_ Gena ran downstairs and was shocked to find Gavin dressed up and waiting for her. She walked down next to him and he offered her his arm  
  
"You look beautiful," he said.  
  
"Why thank you," she said, blushing a slight. "You look very debonair."  
  
The pair walked towards Gavin's red Mercedes outside of the house.  
  
"Aren't you going to open the door for me?" Gena asked as Gavin was already moving to his side of the car.  
  
"Oh! I forgot! I'm sorry." He opened the door and helped her inside.  
  
The pair sat in a nervous and anxious silence until Gena broke in.  
  
"By the way, where are we going?"  
  
"To the new restaurant in downtown Spring Cove. It's called the Zebra Room."

* * *

The two arrived the new restaurant. The building was very modern and contemporary. Gavin pulled up to the curb and let the valet take the keys to his vehicle. He then moved over to the passenger side and offered his hand to Gena. She could see why the restaurant got its name; the interior walls were painted in a zebra pattern. Groups of people were already in the room eating and having drinks. Gena and Gavin were seated in the corner of the room. A dim candle burned on the table while the two perused the menu.   
  
"What are you going to have, babe?" Gavin asked Gena.   
  
"Did you just call me babe?"   
  
"Is that alright?"   
  
"It's fine, I was just surprised. Anyway, I think I'm going to have the grouper. It sounds pretty good."   
  
"That does sound good, but I think I'm going to have the pesto chicken."   
  
Before long, they had their food and began to eat. Both meals were delicious and filling. The two had wonderful conversations and shared some intimate moments. He was holding her hand and caressing it gently.  
  
"God, you are so beautiful, Gena. Your eyes are absolutely amazing."   
  
"Thank you. My eyes, and my smile, are hereditary. A few members of my family had them too."   
  
"Oh really. That's cool. You must have a good looking family then."   
  
_ 'Had a good looking family,'_ she thought sadly.   
  
"Excuse me," she said as she stood up from her seat. "Gavin, I'm going to use the ladies room. I'll be right back."   
  
"I'll be right here waiting for you," he said with a smile.   
  
Gena winked at him before she made her way across the room towards the bathrooms. She walked by many tables where couples and their friends were laughing, joking around, and having a good time. She passed one table where a striking blonde was sitting with her date. The blonde was slender and had a delicate body. She looked no more than seventeen years old, but there was something about her that seemed older. Maybe it was her eyes. Her blue eyes were vibrant and a crisp blue. When the light hit her eyes, they glittered like the Hope diamond; but there was a part of them that seemed to have seen so much in a short life.   
  
Being a fashion designer, Gena also noticed that she had very good taste in clothes as well. As a vampire, she noticed her slender neck and her pulse thrumming through her body.   
  
'I really have to go out and feed tonight.'  
  
There was something else about her. Gena's senses were ringing off the chart like there was something very powerful in the restaurant.   
  
The blonde continued to talk to her partner, whose face was hidden behind the menu he was viewing.   
  
"You know, it shouldn't be this hard for you to pick something to eat," the blonde said as she sipped her martini.   
  
"Yeah, I know, but you know I have weird tastes in food," her partner said as he started to lower his menu.   
  
_ 'That voice...I've heard that voice before,'_ she thought to herself.  
  
She passed by the table as the male was lowering his menu. His hair was dark, wavy black and perfect. His face and body would rival only the Greek god's. His smile made women drop. And his eyes; it was his eyes that sealed it. They were the unmistakable green of the forest.  
"Oh my god," she said softly.  
  
He continued to talk to his beautiful counterpart; never noticing the he was being stared at. Gena tried not to be she couldn't help it.  
  
_ 'It can't be. He's dead! He died!'  
_  
Her fixation with the man caused her to run into a waiter with drinks, which spilt all over the floor and herself.  
  
"Damn! I'm so sorry," Gena said.  
  
"It's ok," the waiter said.  
  
The blonde woman came over to Gena.  
  
"Oh, you're covered with drinks. Let me help clean up. Stefan, can you hand me some extra napkins?"  
  
The dark man from the table lifted his gaze slightly and handed the blonde a handful of clothe napkins.  
  
_'Stefan,'_ she thought to herself.  
  
As if he heard her thoughts, he looked straight at her.  
  
"I'm fine...I gotta to go...excuse me," Gena said as ran out of the Zebra Room. 


	13. The Unveiling

"What the hell was that all about?" Gavin says as he rushed into the house.  
  
Gena sat on the couch with out saying a word. She was in complete shock.  
  
_'It couldn't be him…I must have been hallucinating…he's not real, he's dead.'  
_  
"Gena!" Gavin yelled as he moved closer to her. "Tell me why you decided to ditch me! Was it something I did or something I said?" He looked at her, his eyes full of regard.  
  
A wave of guilt ran through her mind. Gavin wasn't the problem and he shouldn't be punished for her own.  
  
"I'm sorry for leaving you, Gav. You did nothing wrong. It was…"  
  
"Were you embarrassed that you had about five glasses of wine spilt on you?" he asked lovingly. He took her hands in his and gave her a shy smile. She couldn't help but giggle a little.  
  
"No. That was embarrassing, but that wasn't why I ran…it was because of someone in the restaurant."  
  
"Did someone do something to you?"   
  
"No…no one hurt me. It was…someone that was there brought back a lot of bad memories."  
  
"You can tell me, Gena," Gavin said. He engaged her eyes and brought her hand to his lips.   
  
Gena's eyes filled to the brim with tears. She couldn't tell him. She'd only told two other people in her life and it only brought about suffering.   
  
"Don't go through this alone; I'm right here, Gena."   
  
Alone. She had always done it alone; why stop now? Why bring him into her world?   
  
She started to sob as she felt his mind pull away in defeat. He was starting to give up and move away. She had finally gotten him back in to her life, and she was going to let him slip through the cracks yet again. But then, not by her own accord, she felt herself begin to speak.  
  
"You're going to think I'm absolutely crazy."   
  
"Not more than I already think you are," he replied with a smile.  
  
"Do you want the short, blunt version or the long, complicated one?"  
  
"Whatever you feel comfortable with, my love."  
  
_ 'His love. It's so good to hear those words again.'_ It also compelled her to go on and reveal the truth. Her truth.   
  
"I grew up in Italy, out side of Florence. My mom and twin sister died when I was born. I had four older siblings; two sisters and two brothers. I was closest to my brothers, Stefan and Damon; they were very protective of me. I was closer to Stefan than Damon. No one could really get close to Damon; he was angry at Stefan and I since we were born. You see, when Stefan was born, my mother became very ill and was bedridden for a long time. Damon was upset that she couldn't go and play with him anymore. All he knew was that it happened because of his 'little brother.' Then I came along and, well, my mother couldn't take the child birth and she died of complications. After that, Damon blamed both Stefan and I for killing 'his' mother. Besides all of Damon's animosity, my life was typical for a girl my age in a wealthy family until I turned seventeen. I met a boy that my father disapproved of, mostly because I was already betrothed to marry some other man."  
  
"Wait, you were supposed to marry someone? Betrothed? I thought that tradition died out hundreds of years ago!"  
  
"Please don't interrupt; I have to get through this. I eloped with the boy against my father's wishes. The man I was supposed to marry became infuriated with the news and pursued us. Then, he stabbed my love and I with a dagger…we…we both died there in a small village in Tuscany."  
  
"Died? Oh, come on now…if you died, then how are you here?"  
  
"We had lived at home with a girl named Katherine, who was very nosy and immature. She and I didn't get along at all. She followed us and witnessed the stabbing. As I laid there on the dirt road, she drank from my neck and offered her own blood to me. She gave me a new life...as a vampire."  
  
"Ok, Gena. I know you're into the supernatural with all the ghosts and stuff, but this is ridiculous. Vampires aren't real! And, if the legends were somehow true and you were one, you would have been fried by sunlight by now!"  
  
"That's not true, Gavin. This ring," she pulled her lapis-lazuli ring off her hand. "This ring protects me from the sun. I can go out whenever I want."  
  
"Ok…this is getting a little weird. I think I'm going to go," he said as he started to move uncomfortably across the room. She knew that she was starting to lose him.  
  
"You call me your love. If you really love me, you'd not question me! I know it's hard to grasp, but it's the truth!" she started to cry with frustration.   
  
"Do you think this is easy for me to tell you? It's hard as hell, Gavin! I swear on my mother's eternal life that I am NOT LYING! Do you need a demonstration?!?" She started to snarl and felt her canines push against her lips.   
  
She looked into his eyes and saw that Gavin was truly frightened. She felt her frustration, and her teeth, subside as she fell to her knees in sorrow.  
  
"Oh my God, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to…I didn't," she couldn't finish her sentence. Her sobs stopped her from making any other sound. Gena couldn't believe what she had done. She never let herself get out of control like that. That was a promise she had made to herself a long time ago; after all, a temper like that was genetic in her family. But, she wasn't going to let it get to her.   
  
She expected to be left alone in the room and hear the door slam behind him. He was going to leave; it was inevitable. Just then she felt a hand on her head. His fingers brushed through onyx strands. Gena lifted her gaze upward to look at love. His eyes were glazed with shock, but it was mingled with compassion.  
  
"You're shaking," he said to her as he bent down to look into her eyes. "Are you alright?"  
  
"I'm just…I'm scared…I want you to believe me. It's the honest to God's truth. Well, and I'm hungry. I haven't fed in a day."  
  
"But you just ate," he said. Gena looked up at him and pointed to her teeth. "Oh, that fed. No offense, Gena, because I know I love you and I want to make sure you're all right, but this is...well, it's weird to say the least. I mean, ok, you have the teeth," he reaches in her mouth to feel her sharp canines. "Ouch! And they're not fake. I did notice you tend to shy from sun contact."  
  
"Just because I have the ring, doesn't mean I like the sun. It's still not good in full doses for anyone I suppose," she said with a sad smile.  
  
Gavin moved over to the couch and rested his head on his hand contemplatively.  
  
"Wow…this is…something else. This is...this is going to take some getting used to."  
  
"I know, honey," Gena said as she gracefully shifted towards him. "I don't expect it to be an easy transition for you to know this. If it's too much for you, we'll just stay friends…or we can just stop seeing each other all together. It's your call."  
  
"No, it's nothing like that. It will take some adjustment knowing that you not only consider me your boyfriend, but a meal as well," Gavin said with a nervous half-smile on his face. "Is there anything else you want to spring on me, since you're coming clean? This time is as good as any to let all the dirty laundry out."  
  
"Um…a few more things," she grabbed for his hand and placed the lapis ring in his palm. "Read the inscription."  
  
"G W…1495. Ok, so the ring is …507 years old. And…," he said, asking her to continue.  
  
"That G that is inscribed in that ring stands for my name. My husband's name was William. We were married in 1495…I grew up in Florence during the Italian Renaissance."  
  
"You're kidding, right? You're over 500 years old?" he looked at her with a queer glance.  
  
"Well, if you can believe that I am a vampire, why is it so hard to believe I'm 507? I was changed when I was only 17, and I will look this way for as long as I am here." She paused herself before she moved forward. "Gavin, that man in the restaurant…"  
  
"I had almost forgotten about him," he jumped in.  
  
"That guy…he was my brother. Stefan. I don't know how he's here, but I think it's because he is the same as me. His girlfriend Katherine was the one who changed me. But, he died with my brother a long time ago."  
  
"So, your brother is alive? Well, kinda alive at least. Are you going to go talk to him?"  
  
"I don't know…he thinks I'm dead." Gena looked pale and faint.  
  
The two exchanged nervous, shy glances before Gavin cautiously grabbed her hand.  
  
"If you haven't fed yet…you could always feed off of me."   
  
She gave him an awkward look. Why would he ask this of her?   
  
"Gena, please, it would help me to know that I helped you…and it would show me your world and mine since I'm a part of yours," he said as he pulled down his collar to expose his neck to her.   
  
Gena just looked at him terrified, afraid of what could happen if she did. She looked into his eyes, and they reflected love, acceptance, and fear all at the same time. He was afraid, she knew that, but he was willing to give himself to her because he cared. With her hands, she gently guided him forward so his head was resting on her strong shoulder. She could smell his skin; he smelt like the woods after a fresh rain. Her teeth itched as his heart beat against her body. Gena's skilled hands graciously took hold of his neck.  
  
"I'm not going to hurt you, Gavin."  
  
"I love you," he whispered.   
  
"I love you too," she breathed onto his neck.  
  
Then she gently sunk her teeth into him. His blood tasted like honey as she drank his essence. It was his gift to her; he gave her the gift to live another day. As she drank, the earth stood still and there was no one, except the two of them. Tears welled up in her eyes as she savored his sweet life. 


	14. An Omen

There was nothing that he could do. He watched as she was stabbed over and over and over again.

"Please, stop!" he yelled across the vineyard.

But it didn't stop. He could hear her tortured screams in his head, pounding his skull.

"Help me! Help me!" She screamed until she finally collapsed in a pool of blood. He ran to her then, and held her lifeless body close. Her ebony hair was turning crimson with blood.

"Stefan, wake up!"

Stefan opened his eyes and looked up at his wife. He looked at his surroundings and found only his room and not the Italian countryside. He could feel wet tears on his face. Elena's loving eyes looked down at him with concern. She moved closer to him and he could feel the bed shift under him.

"Honey, what happened? You were screaming and crying in your sleep. Did you have a bad dream?"

"You could say that," he replied, trying to regain some composure.

The phone began to ring. Elena reached it and answered it carefully.

"Hello? Yeah, he's up. Hold on a minute," she paused and handed the phone over to her husband. "It's Damon."

Stefan gave her a confused look. Damon never called at four in the morning; unless it was an emergency.

"Hello, Damon. What's wrong?"

"Listen, I just woke up from a horrible nightmare. I would have just contacted you with telepathy but my head still hurts. All she did was scream…"

Stefan listened intently to his brother's rant.

"The girl; it was the girl that was the worst part. It was…"

"Gena. I know Damon, I had the same dream."

There was silence on the other end of the phone for a few minutes.

"So, little brother, what the hell does it mean?"

"I don't know Damon, but we need to find out."

* * *

"So, are you going to go or what," Gavin asked Gena, while she fiddled with her coffee.

She was looking at her laptop contemplating her fate. On the screen was a name with an address: Stefan Salvatore, 101 Midnight Ocean Drive, and Spring Cove. He was here, in the same town she had moved to.

"Well?" Gavin reiterated.

"I…I don't know. I mean…yes I want to, but part of me doesn't. He's not going to believe this."

Gavin looked at her smiling and caressed her hand.

"If I can believe it, he probably will. Just go. Do you want me to go with you?"

Gena looked into his deep brown eyes.

"Yes, please," she reached to hug him. "Thank you. I don't deserve you."

"Sure you do," he whispered into her ear. "Now let's go."

She grabbed her purse and they both made their way out the door.

Gavin paused outside of the garage and said, "Should we take my car or yours?"

Gena began to laugh immediately.

"Mine," she replied while stifling giggles. "My brother would definitely not believe it was me if I rolled up in that piece of crap!"

As they drove down towards Midnight Ocean Drive, Gena's hands gripped the steering wheel hard, causing her knuckles to become white. The butterflies in her stomach were starting to make her sick. As if sensing her distress, Gavin reached over and gently stroked her back.

They drove down the road, the numbers going down: 105, 104, 103, 102…101. She pulled up next to the curb and looked at the impressive house, noticing that it really wasn't her brother's style of home.

Gena sat in the driver's seat unable to move a muscle.

"So, are you going to go up there, or are you going to turn around and go home?" Gavin looked at her questioningly.

She knew that if she went back home she'd never forgive herself.

"Gavin, would you mind waiting here while I go up there? I would rather do this part by myself."

"Whatever you want, love." He kissed her cheek and gave her hand a quick squeeze as she made her way to the door.

Purse in hand, she walked up the stone steps to the wooden front door. In what seemed like slow motion, she pressed the lighted button of the doorbell.

Ding, Dong. Ding, Dong.

"Hold on! One moment!" The voice yelled from inside the domicile. The voice now had a face as the person opened the front door. It was the blond from the restaurant.

"Can I help you?" she asked.

"Yes, I was inquiring about someone who lives here. His name is Stefan Salvatore."


	15. Reunited

Elena looked at the strange, dark woman on her doorstep. As she looked into those dark eyes, she felt as if she'd known her all her life. Where had she seen her before? Oh yes, at the restaurant about a week ago. But, how did she find out where they lived?

"It depends who's looking for him," Elena answered bitterly. She didn't embrace the concept of strangers knowing their name and house.

"My name is Gena. I just want to talk with him."

_'Gena,'_ she thought. Stefan had mentioned that name a lot recently. She heard him talking to Damon secretly about some girl named Gena, but they were quiet about it around her. Was Stefan secretly seeing her or something? That's crazy talk; she knew Stefan too well, and his love for Elena was proof.

"Honey, who is it?" Stefan yelled from the hall.

"It's someone for you," she relayed back to him. Elena watched as her husband moved gracefully down the main hallway to meet her at the door. He lightly kissed her head as he grabbed the handle.

She watched as he opened the door, and the smile that was on his face melted.

The woman looked up at her husband with the same shock and awe. Then, with a secret smile, she spoke.

"Good day, Stefan; long time, no see. Aren't you going to invite me in?"

* * *

He must have stared at her for twenty minutes. There she was, alive and well. Well, as much alive as she could be. Stefan could sense it now; she was definitely a vampire. He could tell that she sensed his power as well.

"Hello…Stefan? Can I come in?"

Elena was giving both of them weird gazes as she tried to figure out what was going on.

"Sure, Gena. You are welcome in my home," he said stoically as he turned to Elena. "Honey, this is my sister, Gena. Gena, this is my wife, Elena."

Gena nodded in Elena's direction.

"For a second there I thought she was Katherine," Gena said with some tension in her voice.

"No, Katherine's dead," Elena added.

"Good."

Elena looked up at Stefan with puzzlement

"I didn't know you had a sister."

"I didn't think it was necessary to talk about it then," Stefan answered.

Stefan noticed the car parked in front of his house, and the other occupant in it.

"Who's your friend?"

"Oh, he's my boyfriend. Is it all right if he comes in?"

"Of course," Elena said.

Stefan watched as Gena ran fast, almost too quickly, down to her car and walked back up with her companion.

"Gavin, this is my brother, Stefan." She paused as they shook hands. "And this is…my sister-in-law, Elena?"

"Yes, that's right," Elena said as she shook Gavin's hand. "Won't you both come in?"

The four walked together into the house. Stefan saw his sister looking around the main hallway, and heard her mentally comment on the color scheme.

_ 'I was right, this isn't his type of house,'_ she said.

All he could do was smile. It was all happening too fast really, but she was here and that was all that mattered.

He sat down in a chair, across from the worn couch that his sister now occupied. They sat in silence before Elena broke in.

"So, why are you here? Or actually how are you here?"

Gena gave a shy smile towards her new sister-in-law and her brother.

"Well, as you know Stefan, I died."

"Yes, I remember that part."

Stefan felt tears well up in his eyes as he remembered how she looked. Her raven hair cascaded down the silk pillow. Her eyes, those beautiful fathomless eyes, were shut forever.

He wiped the tear from his cheek. Then Elena jumped in to the conversation.

"Ok, I don't mean to be rude, but I didn't even know Stefan had a sister. He told me about his brother, but nothing of you."

"Well, that's nice of you Stefan," Gena said sarcastically. "Actually, he had three sisters. Two older and then me; I was the youngest of the Salvatore clan."

Elena looked extremely confused at the whole situation, but motioned for Gena to continue.

Gena continued on with the story. She told Elena everything about Will, Dante, and Katherine. Stefan noticed that she didn't go into to much detail of the night she died, except for who did it.

"It was Dante who jumped us," Gena said as she reached for Gavin's hand.

"He said he found your bodies like that. Father congratulated him for bringing you home," he said with surprise.

"No, he killed us, Stefan. He killed us and left us there in the road. Then, as I was lying there looking at the stars, someone came to me. I thought it was an angel at the time, but I later found out that it was Katherine."

"Katherine? Why was she there?" Elena was very focused on this part of the story.

Gena looked directly at him when she continued.

"She was mad at me because I knew she was playing both you and Damon. I threatened her, told her to stay away from both of you, and I guess she didn't take that very well. So, she followed Dante to see what he was going to do to us. Instead of just letting me die, she wanted to make me suffer so she turned me instead. When I woke up in the tomb, she was there and told me that I could never go home again and if I refused, she wouldn't tell me how to survive. Will was dead in there with me."

Stefan could see the anguish in his sister's face as she remembered the scene as she awoke.

"I hate her," Gena said venomously.

"Join the club," Elena interjected.

He could see the surprise on his sister's face after his wife's comment.

"How do you know her?" Gena asked Elena.

Stefan stretched and sighed deeply.

"You're going to be here for a while," he said with a pained smile.

"You no, we're not throwing _another _pity party are we, Stefan?"


	16. A Pleasant Surprise

Damon sauntered into the room with his usual presence hoping to find Bonnie in there, but instead he had a shock. He looked around to the faces in the room and paused when he saw her. That face, the one that was shrouded the last time he saw her, was smiling back at him. Her smile had a mixture of surprise, bewilderment, power, and happiness. He immediately knew what she was.

"So who did it to you?" he asked nonchalantly.

"Katherine."

"Well, at least we have that in common," he said.

Damon turned to his brother who was looking at him, trying to read his face. But Damon didn't know what to feel. Should he stand back and assess the situation or jump right in and give her a hug?

"Well Stefan, I guess this solves the mystery of who stole her body." He turned back to his sister. "So, little sister, what are you doing here?"

"I wanted to ask you the same thing."

"Actually, it might be better to tell the story after dinner, when everyone is here," Stefan said. "Gena and Gavin, will you stay for dinner? We're having a few friends over who would like to meet you both. And, it would be easier to tell the story in front of everyone instead of having to repeat it another three times or so."

"Of course, Stefan. We'd be delighted," Gena replied with a smile.

"This is going to be a _long_ night," Damon said laughingly.

* * *

"And now we're here trying to cope with what we've lost," Stefan said as he grabbed Elena's hand. "And what we've won. We're just trying to live."

Gena looked around the room as the group sipped some after dinner refreshments. It was funny that the group got along so well even though it now consisted of three vampires, a psychic, and three mortals.

She noticed that Damon was having fun questioning Gavin, trying to find out what the boy's intentions were for his little sister. She rolled her eyes at the scene.

"So, Gena, what brought you to the neighborhood?" Bonnie asked.

"Job. I'm a fashion designer downtown."

"That's really cool," Bonnie said enthusiastically.

As the conversation went long into the night, Gena couldn't help notice two things. First, there was a lot of tension between Bonnie and Damon; a lot.

_'They must have gone out,'_ she thought to herself. She knew the effects Damon could have on people.

Then there was Meredith. She seemed like the normal type of person, the quiet type, but now she seemed too quiet. Sadness pulsated from her, although she was doing her best to shield it, and for a human she was doing a damn good job.

Stefan must have read her mind because he sent her a message.

_'Her husband died two months ago. This is the first time she's been out of the house since the funeral. It took a lot to get her here.'_

"Well, I don't know about the rest of you, but I must be off. It's feeding time," Damon said with a devilish smile.

"That's sick," Bonnie said.

"I have to be going too," Gena interjected. She turned to Damon and gave him a hug. "I'll see you later, Damon. It's so good to see you again. I missed you."

It took him a while to warm up to the hug.

"I missed you too, kid."

Gena then made her way around the room to say goodbye to everyone.

"Bonnie, it was nice to meet you."

"Likewise. We'll have to hang out sometime."

Gena smiled. "Most definitely." She continued to move towards Meredith.

"It's very nice to meet you, Meredith."

Meredith tried her best to smile at her, and Gena moved along to Elena and Stefan. She hugged them both.

"Elena, it's a pleasure to meet you. And Stefan, I missed you so much. Come over soon. Here's my number," she said as she handed it over to her brother. "Damon, you can copy it down too. I don't live too far away from here, so don't be strangers; you're all welcome at my home."

Stefan kissed her cheek as he led everyone to the door.

"It's good to have you home," he whispered to her gently.


	17. Planning the Event

"So you're coming for sure…That's great! I can't wait to see you. It's been too long. Alright, I'll see you then. Bye!" Gena carefully replaced the receiver back on the cradle.

"Hey Gavin, Zoe is coming too! Isn't that just awesome?," she gushed as she moved to sit on her boyfriend's lap.

"That's great. So, how many people does that make for this party?"

"Well, Stefan, Elena, Damon, Mere, and Bon make five. Zoe and her boyfriend make two more. Than there's Em and her guy…"

"And my friend from home," Gavin interrupted.

"Right, so that makes a grand total of…twelve, counting us but not counting any of the other neighbors that I invited."

She snuggled up next to Gavin while they watched television. Haunted History was on The History Channel and they never missed an episode.

Fall was in full swing outside her warm home. The air had chilled causing the once green leaves to explode into orange and red. Gena loved this time of year, especially spending it with Gavin. They had a ball jumping into the giant piles of foliage and taking long rides on the horses into the woods. It was beautiful. To make things even better, Halloween and her big party were only a few short days away.

_'I have to go out and buy so much stuff for this party. I've got to buy food, and décor, and …,'_ she planned, her thoughts interrupted by the television program that returned from commercial.

"On today's show, we'll hear the story of Sally Townsend, the daughter of…"

Gena thought about that name. "Sally Townsend! I knew her! I met her a few times in Boston!"

"Wait, hold on…you knew her?" Gavin looked at her with a sort of astonished smile.

"Yeah, I met her in Boston. Her father was on business there. It was a crazy place during the Revolution."

"I forgot that you were around back then," he stopped to laugh. "It's weird to picture you in those stuffy corsets!"

Gena started to laugh but stopped. "You have no idea how painful they were."

He took hold of her hand and kissed it gently, leaving his lips a bit longer than usual.

"So, what happened back then? I'm really interested, being a history major and all," he grinned.

Gena looked at him with a smile. It would be fun to tease him with little tidbits here and there until he finally made her tell the whole story.

"So, Gav, do you want the short, blunt version or the long, complicated one?"

"Do I have a choice?"

"Ok, complicated it is!"


	18. Everyone Loves a Good Halloween Party

The party was set to begin at eight o'clock on October 31st. Gena sat at her dresser and put the last touches on her makeup.

"There. I'm finished," she said as she looked at herself in the mirror. Her hair was up with a few tendrils hanging out her gold headpiece. She straightened out her toga, which was delicately sewn with gold accents.

"Oh wow. Hun, you look like a goddess," Gavin said as he entered her room.

"Well, that's the point," she said as she struck an ancient pose. "Tonight I am Prosperina, Roman goddess of the Underworld." She looked at her partner, who was dressed sharply in a tuxedo. "And what are you supposed to be…besides handsome I mean."

He flashed her a devastating smile. "My name is Bond…James Bond. Master spy and ladies man extraordinaire." He took her hand smoothly and gave it a kiss. "I'm here to escort you tonight and show you a good time at this shindig." He offered her his arm. "The caterer is here and the guests are soon to arrive. Shall we?"

She couldn't help but smile as she wrapped her arm around his. "Yes, we shall."

The house was set in full decorations, which created a wonderful atmosphere. The caterer was at the door giving away candy and other treats to the neighborhood children. Stefan and Elena walked through the front door as Gena and Gavin made their way down the stairs.

Elena was dressed in a beautiful white velvet gown. Her golden hair shimmered down her back almost as brightly as her tiara, which was securely pinned in her soft hair. She was the most breathtaking princess Gena had ever seen.

Next to her, Stefan was dressed as Robin Hood. He seemed to carry the costume well. It probably had something to do with him being used to wearing an outfit close to that.

"Gena, you look wonderful," Stefan admonished as he pulled her into an embrace.

"You look great too, and your wife looks amazing."

"She always does," he said as he pulled Elena closer.

Gavin went up to him and shook Stefan's hand.

"So, tights huh?" Gavin and Stefan shared a smile and a laugh.

The four of them went to the buffet table on the back porch and started to snack on some sweet treats. As they started to get engulfed in conversation, Bonnie and Meredith arrived.

Bonnie was dressed in a tight black leather outfit. None of them could believe that it was Bonnie who waltzed in with such presence.

The most amazing was Meredith. The red gothic dress she wore was definitely not her style, but she pulled it off amazingly. Meredith, who was never one to show off her body, was showing off a lot of curves.

"So Bon, where's your costume," Elena asked her friend intently, as the group gathered around the decorated table.

"I'm a contemporary witch. But doesn't Mere look ravishing in my dress? Thank goddess I didn't get it hemmed yet."

"Yeah, Meredith looks radiant," Stefan said. "It's good to see her out and about again."

Gavin leaned over and gave Gena a kiss on the cheek.

"Listen babe, I'm going to go out front and wait for my friend. I can't wait for everyone to meet him!" Gavin walked towards the front of the house. Passing him on the way to the door was Damon, who was dressed all in snug black.

"Hey Damon!," Gena yelled to her older brother. "What the hell are you supposed to be?"

"A vampire," he replied with another one of his amazing smiles.

* * *

Meredith took in the scene. They all looked lovely in their costumes having the time of their lives. But Meredith couldn't shake off whatever was eating her away, and it didn't help having Damon stare at her like he could see into her soul.

_ 'What the hell is wrong with him? Is he trying to scare me? Intimidate me? I have never been scared of him, and I'm sick of his macho crap!'_

She looked around the room and tried to find something besides the group to focus on. There were new people; Gena introduced them as Em and Philip, butterfly and convict respectively. Mere noticed the look Gena gave the couple as they strode in; if looks could kill, that one could have defeated Klaus in one instant. Then another girl arrived named Zoe. She was dressed up as a hippie which seemed to match her personality. Meredith over heard her saying that her boyfriend was going to be a bit late.

But she was in mood to meet new people.

_ 'There has to be something else….'_

Then she saw it; the bar. Never the big drinker, she was nervous to try anything, but she found herself drifting closer to the tap.

"What will ya have?" the bartender asked.

"Oh what the hell; I'll have a martini."

* * *

Gena found herself immensely enjoying the party. Everything was outstanding! She had never had more fun in her life!

With Gavin gone waiting for his friend, she found herself the only one with out a dance partner. Even Zoe had a partner now since her boyfriend showed up. He was dressed as the phantom of the opera, except he had a full mask. Gena watched as Zoe give him a quick kiss, whispered something to him, and walked away to get something to drink.

Gena looked over to Zo, who gave her a secret smile and nodded in the direction of the Phantom. He was walking elegantly in her direction. Once he got with in reach, he held out his hand. She laughingly took it and was escorted out to the makeshift dance floor.

The music slowed down.

_'Of course it had to be a slow dance,'_ she thought.

She looked up at her partner, who was being very quiet.

"So," Gena said casually, "what made you walk all the way across the yard to ask me to dance?" She tried to look into his eyes, but the mask shadowed them.

"Well, Zo and I noticed that you were just sitting there for a long time. You didn't look like you were having much fun, so I …"

"Wait a minute, you've been watching me?" She looked up at him accusingly.

"I wasn't watching, I was observing," he responded.

Then they both froze. She looked up at him again and a thought of those words brought a stir inside her. She had heard that exact phrase from someone a long time ago. He only moved to reach down and pick up her left hand. The only thing he looked at was the ring on her finger.

The Phantom reached up and pulled off his mask.

His blue eyes looked back at her. His blond hair fell gracefully around his face.

Her own dark eyes became saucers.

"Will?"

As if in a worded reply, he moved her closer to him. He wrapped his arms around her and moved in for a kiss. Their lips were barely touching when Gavin walked in.

"Alright, finally. Everyone, this is my friend, Matt Honeycutt." He then noticed Gena and the strange man. "What the…!?!"


	19. A Standoff

Damon looked around the room. The typical mortal party; he was just wondering when the clown was going to show up with the balloons. Well, at least it had been until Gena had been caught snogging with some British guy. Damon knew who he was as soon as he saw him. It was that English guy who had seduced his sister back in the old country.

_ 'Well, now we know were his body went too.'_

That had been a mystery for five centuries; now he knew that there were no grave robbers, like previously thought. The two just up and left in the night as the living dead.

Gavin had been furious when he walked in on the two. Well, Zoe wasn't too happy either. The four walked into the house together to talk or yell.

Then there's Matt. Everyone had lost contact with him after graduation, not that Damon ever wanted to have contact with him in the first place. They were all in complete shock when he waltzed into the room. Apparently, Matt knew Gavin because he had moved to Gav's hometown after graduation and the two became really good friends.

_ 'Well this is turning out to be one piss hole of a reunion.'_

He was happy when they finally put on some real music so people could start dancing. What he couldn't believe was Meredith. Damon couldn't believe how much she'd grown up since Fell's Church. She was no longer an introverted, strong teenager; she was now an enduring, beautiful woman. She was dancing with some guy that lived down the street, and she was dancing rather provocatively. He didn't seem to be the only one to notice; Stefan, Elena, Bonnie, and Matt were looking in complete shock.

_'Well, at least I can play with her a bit,'_ Damon thought to himself.

He approached her and sent the boy she was dancing with away. Damon pulled Meredith closer to him and started to dance with her.

"Hey!" she said, "I was dancing with him and I don't want to dance with you."

"But, do you really have a choice?"

"Oh please, DA-mon! Yes, I have a choice; I don't dance with losers. Let me go before I get really pissed off!" She pushed him away and headed back over to her table.

Damon followed her and looked at the table. Six empty martini glasses were on the counter and one full martini was in her hand. She was sitting down, resting her head on her free hand. He cautiously sat down across from her.

"What are you doing _here_," she asked in slurred speech.

"I'm wondering when you turned into such a lush."

She glared at him, her eyes hazy.

"I'm sorry if I'm not like every other girl _fawning_ over you. Sure you're probably one of the best looking guys I've EVER seen, but you can be such an _ass_!" She paused to take another sip. "Dark, short, handsome, chauvinist pigs just aren't my type."

He had never seen Meredith that way before. If any other person called him that, he would definitely hurt them. But this, it was almost sad. It wasn't even fun to mess with her in this condition. She had been the only one not afraid of him, ever. She always stood her ground and was strong. The woman who sat across from him now was not the same. She was defeated, sad. There wasn't a word for the depth of sadness she emitted.

Damon looked at her and the empty vessels again, and his gentlemen side took over.

"Meredith, I think you've had enough. It's time to go home," he said and offered her his hand. She pushed it away from her; the sudden movement almost caused her to fall off her chair. With her hands, she found the edge of the table and made herself upright again.

"I'm fine Damon. A few drinks won't kill me. Just leave me alone and go find some other girl to bother." She laid her head on the table and called for the bartender to give her another one.

He was starting to get really impatient with her.

_'Yeah, a few drinks won't kill her, but the eight that she drank would. But, then again, what do I care if this little human dies?'_

"Meredith, that was not a request. You are not going to embarrass my family by acting this way at a party. I'm going to escort you home right now!"

"You're _ordering_ me to go home," Meredith said, looking directly into Damon's dark eyes. She started laughing hysterically. "You know, you do have a rotten sense of humor, Damon." She stood up on wobbly legs to face him. "I'm a grown woman, and I can do what I want, and I choose to stay here by myself."

"That's not in the plan, Mere," Damon said.

Meredith was furious. She was mad at Damon for being himself, mad at God, mad at Alaric for leaving her, mad at the world! She wanted to kick and scream and tell everyone that she was unhappy. But not her, she never showed her true feelings; until now.

She looked up at Damon and moved forward. Meredith used all of her strength and pushed her body weight into him, in an ill attempt to knock him over. She felt him moving back and then she felt arms on her shoulders. Her foot found a wet patch of grass and she felt her inebriated body falling backwards in slow motion. On the way to the ground, her head hit the corner of the decorated table.

Meredith laid on the ground feeling sick to her stomach. Her head was throbbing with pain. She wasn't aware of what was going on, only making out occasional words out of full sentences.

"….a little to drink tonight…"

"….she seemed alright earlier…"

"….is she ok…."

"….take her home…."

Before she knew it, she was in strong arms being held and carried away.


	20. Reintroductions

Gena looked out her living room window and saw Damon putting a drunken Meredith in his car.

_'Boy, I wish I was like that right now.'_

Gena, Gavin, Will, and Zoe had all sat in uncomfortable silence for most of the evening.

"So, is anyone going to say anything," Zoe asked concerned. Will put his arm around her, but she shied away. Will's eyes shifted to the floor.

"I will," Gena began. She turned towards Gavin. "Gavin, remember the story I told you? About Florence?"

"Yeah, I remember."

Gena nodded in Will's direction. "He's the W."

"You're kidding? Aren't you?"

"No, she's not," Will answered. "I am William Grey and my initial is on that ring."

"Ok, then what is the date on it," Gavin asked, trying to catch him in a lie.

"The date that is engraved in that silver, lapis lazuli ring is 1495," he said sadly.

Gavin took the ring off of Gena's finger and looked at the date in disbelief. He placed it gently back onto her finger.

"Will, how do you know that?" Zoe asked her companion. But, before he could answer, Gavin jumped in once again.

"So, why and how are you here Mr. Grey?"

"What do you mean 'why and how' is he here?" Zoe was looking very confused.

Gena looked up at Will. "Do you want to tell her or do I have to?"

"I'll tell her," Will replied. "Well, Zo, this isn't easy to tell anyone…"

"Did I just land on Maury Povich or something? What the hell is going on? What have you and my best friend been keeping from me?" Zoe was getting very frustrated. Gena had an idea so she rushed into the conversation.

"Zoe, remember the night when we first saw Lilea?"

"Yeah."

"Do you remember the letter she wrote to her step-mother?" Zoe nodded. "Remember the part about her being an 'incorporeal being'?"

"Yeah, I remember that I had no idea what the hell it meant. But, what does that have to do with the price of eggs?"

"Do you remember what it meant?"

"Yeah. It was like a spook: zombie, goblin, ghosts, demons….and oh yeah, vampires," she said in her best Dracula impression.

"You asked me if I believed in them and I said that anything is possible. Well, that's because I KNOW it is possible."

"What you KNOW one? A real life vampire." Gena looked to Will and sent him a message.

_'Do you want to jump in now?'_

_ 'No, you tell her.'_

"Well, Zoe, you're talking and sitting next to two right now."

Zoe's eyes went wide and she started to laugh. She was almost rolling on the floor.

"Funny Halloween joke guys," she clapped with delight. "OH, that was a good one! You almost had me there." But all the others were quite, their faces set in dead certainty.

"Zo, it's true. As much as I hate to admit what I am, it's true. I was changed a long time ago. So was Gena. We were together back then; married in a secret ceremony. That silver ring is the one I gave to her."

"Together? But you told me you only had one girlfriend before me."

"Yep, she was it. I never dated after her."

Gena was shocked.

_'He never dated anyone after me except Zo? In 500 years she's the first one he's gone out with since me?'_

"Yes," returned Will. He had obviously been reading her thoughts.

"I can't believe this. You dated both of us? That's so wrong."

"Zoe, I didn't know you were friends with Gena. Hell, I didn't even know she was alive!?!"

Zoe looked around the room in complete shock. She looked from Gena to Will and then back again.

"So, what you two are trying to say is that you're vampires?" They both nodded.

"Zoe," Gavin interjected, " I know it sounds absolutely ludicrous. I didn't believe it myself…until Gena showed me." He lowered his eyes to the floor. "But, I love her for who she is, no matter what she is. It's still taking some getting used to. Sometimes I forget, only to be reminded of it once again. It's almost like 'Oh yeah, I forgot she's not human anymore.'"

"So, how the hell are you two both vamps and what's really going on? Why didn't anyone tell me?"

"Because I didn't know what you're reaction would be! It's not something you just casually come out and say, you know. It takes time. I didn't think it mattered if you knew that I was one. But after tonight and how I almost ki…came close to do something inappropriate, it had to be told. It was just a mixture of shock and déjà vu. I thought he was dead." Gena looked over to Will. "She told me you were dead, so I left. I couldn't live with her black mail and, with out you, there was nothing keeping me in Florence."

"When I awoke in the crypt, she was there. Katherine told me that she saved me and couldn't save you. She said that your body had been stolen, but she didn't know who did it. Then she told me what I was. I couldn't believe it! I laughed at her. But then she showed me what she was and my senses started. I asked what I needed to know for survival and then I left. I wandered around Europe for years, searching for God knows what. I never found it. I finally decided to come to the States in the early 1990s. I met Zoe this year and we started going out." He reached to rub her hand and she didn't back away.

"But why are you vampires? Did you choose to be?" Zoe looked up at Will deeply.

"No. Gena and I were murdered. We were dying and a woman vampire changed us. We had no choice. We are here now because of what we are."

Zoe looked up towards the ceiling, and Gena could tell she was thinking because she was biting her lower lip; a habit that Gena had noticed when they were in college together. Then she tilted her head back to a normal position and talked to Gena.

"I always knew there was something weird about you. You always used to sneak out at night. I never knew what for…but if you _are_ a vampire that would explain it. You didn't like to eat real food a lot. I just thought you were anorexic or something!" She sighed and bit her lip again. "I don't understand it, after all we've been through with that ghost and all. I can believe in that, but vampires seem so fiction."

"Well, I'm here in the flesh," Gena said. "Do you still want to be friends, Zo? I never meant to hurt you, any of you. I was in shock when I saw Will."

Zo looked deep into her eyes. Gena returned the gaze and sent her a thought.

_'Do you? I can send my thoughts to you so don't be afraid.'_

"Yes. I do. But I have one question, are you and Will still considered man and wife now that he's back?"

Will was about to say something when Gavin jumped at the change to respond.

"No, they're not. They were never married in front of a priest or any public official for that matter, and after 500 years, I think the marriage would be pretty much null and void. Especially since they each thought each other dead. " He turned towards Will, his eyes were dead set "Plus I love her, and you can't have her."

* * *

"Well, well, well. If it isn't our long lost friend, Mr. Matthew Honeycutt," Bonnie said as she reached over to hug him. She could feel is well-defined muscles under the cotton shirt. They pulled back to look at each other.

_ 'My goddess, he is cute…and hot, he's grown up a lot since Fell's Church.'_

"Yeah, it's me. This is really a surprise to see you all here. Small world, huh?" He gave her a small wink that caused his blue eyes to sparkle in the warm light.

_ 'He is so hot!'_

"It's just weird that we're back together all of a sudden. So…are you planning on staying long?"

_ 'Please say yes…oh please, oh please.'_

"Who knows! I was actually going to rent the room above Gena's garage for the time being."

"Oh, that's so cool! That means we'll have to hang out more often! Well, more often than never hanging out that is."

_ 'I'm such a moron…look at me. I'm as giddy as a god-damned teenager!'_

Bonnie gave Matt another hug and lingered in his arms for a few moments.

_'I almost forgot how it felt to be held by him,'_ she thought.

She kissed his cheek and then pulled away quickly, feeling as if she was betraying someone, but she knew that was ridiculous.

Matt started to talk to her again.

"It was certainly a surprise to find Damon here." A look of hurt came over his eyes. She could only imagine what he must have been thinking. That she had hurt him so deeply. That she was a trashy whore. And worst of all, that she was weak for letting Damon take her.

"Listen, I'm sorry for that Matt. I was young and stupid. Damon and I…we're not together anymore. We broke up, this time for good. He's only here now because of Stefan; not because of me."

"It's alright, Bon. That was a long time ago. I want to start over…as friends I mean…if that's all right with you. We should go catch a movie, if I stay around here that is."

"Well, I hope you stay, Matt. I really hope you do."


	21. In the Dark

Damon carried her up to her bed. She was sleeping in his arms, curled up like a cat. He gently placed her on the soft mattress. Meredith moved uncomfortably in her costume, so he went to her dresser and pulled out the first nightgown he saw. He moved onto the bed and gently shook her.

"Wake up and put this on. You'll be more comfortable."

She slowly opened her sleepy eyes and looked up at him. He lifted her into a sitting position and gave the nightgown to her. Her eyes looked down to the garment and back up to him. She moved off of the bed and tried to stand on her own two feet. Yep, she was still drunk. Damon rolled his eyes and moved towards her to help her up. As he did, she grabbed his neck and pulled him down to meet her lips.

He pushed away from her gently, but her kiss persisted and deepened. She started to kiss his face and moved to nibble on his ear lobe.

"Come on, Damon. You know you want me," she whispered seductively in his ear.

He didn't know how much more he could take. Something needed to be done, and fast. Damon finally had enough and pushed her away with more force, causing to stumble backward. She looked at him astonished.

"Meredith, you're drunk. You don't know what you're doing. If you were sober, you wouldn't touch me with a ten-foot pole, except maybe to beat me with it."

_ 'What the hell are you thinking,'_ his mind asked, _' She wants you; you never turned down an attractive drunk chick before. What's so different about her?'_

She just stared at him like a deer caught in the headlights. Using her arms for balance, Meredith got into a standing pose, put her nightgown on, and moved carefully over to the bed. As she lied down, she curled up into a fetal position and began to cry.

Damon just looked at her. What was he to do? He had never seen Meredith cry like this before. She was sobbing so uncontrollably that her tremors were practically shaking the bed. He was about to walk out of the room when she spoke.

"I'm sorry," she said softly. "I didn't mean to do that. I'm so ashamed"

"Look," he said unemotionally, "it's no problem. Think of nothing of it. I have girls throw themselves at me all the time."

She began to bawl again. The sound was filled with such pain.

"I just wanted to feel someone again. No one has touched me since Alaric…," she whimpered. "I just wanted someone to hold me!"

Before he knew what he was doing, Damon was going over to the bed and cradling the sobbing woman in his arms.

"Why did he leave me?!? He always choose his work over me, why did he have to go?!?"

He rocked her back and forth and reassured her that everything was going to be all right. His fingers brushed through her hair soothingly as he guided her deeper into sleep. As he held her, Damon remembered lonely nights when he heard his mother crying in her room. He used to go in and snuggle with her while she slept, trying to bring some comfort to her by bringing her some peace into her closed life.

* * *

She had never felt so sick in her life. Meredith tried to move from her bed, but felt a hesitation from her side. She rolled over to see what was keeping her from heading to the powder room; it was Damon. He was in her bed wearing only his black pants.

_ 'Oh what have I done?!? Did I sleep with him last night?'_ She tried hard to remember the evening. _'I went to that party…I had a few drinks…I don't remember anything after that. But I only had a few drinks! I couldn't have been drunk! Oh no, no, that's not good for the baby. What did I do? What the hell was I thinking?!?! '_ She looked down at her present attire. _'How did I get into this nightgown?!?! Oh god I must have slept with him!'_ She felt as if she was to cry again, but that was taken away by an overwhelming sense of nausea. Meredith pushed Damon's arm off of her and ran to the bathroom.

After several minutes of 'worshiping the porcelain god' in the bathroom, Meredith returned to her bedroom to find Damon still in her bed, leaning on an elbow.

"Did you sleep well," he asked inquisitively.

"Yes," she replied shyly. "Thanks for asking."

After an uncomfortable silence, which caused millions of thoughts to run through Mere's head, Damon spoke.

"No."

"No, what?," she asked curiously.

"We didn't sleep together." He must have read her thoughts.

"Then why am I in a nightgown? Why are you here? What happened last night?"

He sat on the edge of the bed and she moved to sit down next to him.

"You, my dear Meredith, were completely smashed last night. You had A LOT to drink in a very short period of time. You're one mean drunk too. After you attempted to hit me, you fell and hit your head. So, as a gallant male should, I escorted you home and made you put on your night attire." He winked at her. "You weren't feeling too well, so I stayed just to make sure you were ok. I once told Alaric I would help you if you needed it, so I kept my end of the deal."

"Oh god…I drank that much? I hope everything is all right," she said, on the verge of tears.

"Well, you didn't make a COMPLETE ass of yourself…"

"That's not what I mean," Meredith said firmly. "Damon…I don't know how to say this…but, I'm…I'm pregnant."

Damon looked at her with shock and realization. It was like he had known something was different about her, but he couldn't place his finger on it.

"I found out after Alaric died. It's been so hard. This baby is all I have left of him. I hope it's all right. I shouldn't have drank so much last night!"

Damon seemed to be focusing on her soul. It was only then that he could sense a life force inside her.

"The baby seems all right. Have you seen a doctor?"

"No, not yet."

"Meredith, how many months have you know about this child?"

"I found out in September, which means I am four months along as of right now."

"You have to get to a doctor. You can't do this on your own; you look sickly. For your health and that of your child, you need to go right away. Make an appointment and I'll drive you there right now if I have to!"

"Why are you so frantic about this? It's not even your baby."

"Like I said, I told Alaric I'd help you out need be," he paused and a slight sadness came to his dark eyes. "Plus, if my mother could have had the kind of doctors they have now, she probably wouldn't have died. I won't have what happened to her unnecessarily happen to you as well."


	22. Assurances

Meredith waited in the waiting room at the hospital for her check up. Damon had been relentless on the issue until she finally gave in. He moved into her house, against her strong wishes, and was staying in her guest bedroom. He had explained that he wanted to keep an eye on her, and as he promised, he was going to make sure nothing happened to her now that Alaric was gone. She didn't fight that one.

"Mrs. Saltzman, it's time for your appointment," the nurse announced.

She placed the fashion magazine back on the table and started for the door.

Meredith followed the nurse through a series of bland hallways and into a secluded room. The office was spacious and welcoming.

"The doctor will be in any minute; please make your self comfortable. Oh, and put on this gown in you could please."

_ 'How could I be comfortable with my ass hanging out of a hospital gown,'_ Mere growled to herself. She quickly placed on the garment, if you could even call it that, and she lied down on the examination table. She placed one hand gently on her belly, thinking deeply about her situation, when the door to the office opened. A woman in a white lab coat walked in; her face was disguised by the clipboard she was reading.

"Hello," she paused to look at her clipboard. "Mrs. Saltzman, I'm your doctor Caroline Forbes."

"Caroline? Caroline Forbes? Of Fell's Church?" Meredith asked.

Caroline finally looked at her and examined Meredith's features. She took a seat in a big rolling chair next to the comfy patient's table.

"Meredith Sulez? Oh my god, I haven't seen you in years! Well, as I can see here, you're married. Congrats! And…with a baby on the way….congratulations!" Caroline reached over and hugged her old friend.

"Actually, I was married…I'm a widow now."

Caroline's expression changed.

"Oh, hun, I'm so sorry." She paused to hug Meredith again. "And now you're having his baby with out him? You're very strong."

Meredith looked at Dr. Forbes and sighed.

"I'm doing my best with the situation I've been handed. I should have come here earlier; I'm already four months pregnant…and I've had no prenatal care at a doctor's office. I have been taking some vitamins and other stuff. My main concern is that I had a lot to drink the other night. I've also been very stressed…I just hope everything is ok."

"What made you finally come here now?"

"Damon convinced me it was for the best."

Caroline started writing something down on a piece of paper.

"You still talk to Damon? Why is he so concerned about this?"

"I guess Damon and Alaric had talked about 'what ifs' and Alaric asked Damon to protect me if something should happen to him. Alaric asked Stefan as well."

"Oh, I see. Well, if you're ready, we'll start the examination."

Meredith shook her head. For about an hour, she was poked and prodded with needles and other medical devices. When she finally thought it was over, Caroline informed her that they were going to put cold gel on her stomach so they could do an ultrasound. She felt chills as the nurses slathered the goo on her abdomen . Caroline took a scanning device and put it on her slightly swelling belly.

"Ok, Meredith, look at that monitor."

She looked and couldn't believe what she saw. It was her baby, Alaric's baby. And, because of some other medical device, she could hear its heartbeat.

Caroline sat down next to her and pointed at the screen.

"That's the head, that's the heart, there's the arms and legs…"

Meredith just looked at her beautiful baby, the only link she had left of her husband.

"Can you tell what it is yet?"

"Actually no, the baby is turned in a way where it is impossible to tell."

Meredith sighed thankfully.

"I take you don't want to know?"

"No, not until it's born. That's what Alaric would have wanted."

* * *

He hated to move in with girls; it always ended up messy in the end.

Damon sat on the couch in Meredith's living room, waiting for her to get home. She had insisted in driving herself to the doctors. Mere was very persistent in wanting to do it on her own. So, Damon took the time to get a couple things from his penthouse to keep at Meredith's home just in case he had to stay the night. His plans were to stay at her house for a couple days and then to go back to his apartment, only spending necessary days or nights with Mrs. Saltzman. He felt that his presence might even hinder her recovery, but a promise was a promise.

He thought back to that night. They were all at a bar; Alaric, Stefan, and Damon all had a few too many drinks and started talking about weird stuff. Finally Alaric told them about his current investigation in Italy. He was researching some paranormal sight as usual. But, then hesitated and revealed his fears.

"I'm nervous about this one…I don't know why, but I am feeling anxious," Alaric said.

"Don't worry, Alaric," Stefan said to his friend, "Everything will be fine."

Alaric took another sip of his bourbon and looked at his friends deeply.

"If something should ever happen to me, promise me you two will look after Mere for me."

Stefan looked at Damon, who in turn looked back at the drunk parapsychologist seated in front of them.

The younger of the Salvatore brothers was the first to speak.

"Of course we'll make sure she's all right. But, you'll be fine, so you don't have to worry about anything."

Now he was in the Saltzman home supposed to be watching out for Alaric's widow, but all he could think about was a fiery redhead. He remembered when they had first met in Fell's Church many years before. She had been so meek and innocent, but after all that took place she had changed. There was a fire in her then. Damon could recall when they first moved in together and how surprisingly nice it had been. After a while they just couldn't do it anymore, especially not after 'the accident'.

Bonnie had thought she had fallen down the apartment stairs on accident, but in reality, someone had pushed her. It had been some vampire bitch that Damon had slept with a long time ago, and she wanted him back. His precious Bon had been in the hospital for days with fractured ribs and a broken ankle; she was lucky that she hadn't broken her neck.

He had felt so guilty after that, seeing her in the wheelchair and then in crutches, trying to regain the mobility her athletic body used to carry. That's when he started to push her away. It was for her safety. He wanted her to leave him, she had to be the one to go. Bonnie had put up with a lot of shit before she left. She grew up a lot in those years, until finally she had enough and packed her bags. She was safer now with none of his enemies after her, and he was glad. She was doing well at Elena and Stefan's home. Elena told of how they built a special room for her, where she did her meditation and practiced her powers. Bon had also become good friends with Gena and they made frequent shopping trips. Most of all, she looked happier. That was the way it was meant to be because he knew that he wasn't her destiny.

Just then, Meredith walked through the door and seemed surprise to see anyone at home.

"So, how did it go?"

"Everything is fine, Damon. You won't believe who my doctor is!"


	23. The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

"I can't believe it's Christmas already," Gena said as she finished the decorations on her tree.

"It's still a day away," Gavin said as he moved up behind her, wrapping his arms around her tightly. She turned around to hug him closer, feeling the wool of his sweater brush against her arms.

It was perfect at that moment; she had friends and family that loved her deeply, and that she could spend the holidays with. The room was warm with the glow from the fireplace. The decorations hung from every corner and the sounds of Bing Crosby singing "White Christmas" from the stereo helped to create a cheerful essence to the room.

Gavin kissed her forehead and looked down at her.

"So, are you ready yet? Your brother told us to be at his house no later than seven and it's almost forty-five after six."

Gena but the last ornament on top of the tree and straightened out a string of lights.

"Yes, I'm finished."

"Now, let me have a good look at you." He held her out at arms length and she turned around, letting him see her entirely. The bottom of her red taffeta and satin dress lifted a little above her knees as she spun gently around and the ruby necklace around her neck bounced gracefully against her chest.

"You looked stunning." He pulled her closer and kissed her forehead. "Grab your purse and the presents."

He moved towards the door in a mission to warm up the car. Gena watched as he tried his best to walk through the hard snow to get to the garage. She turned off every light in the house except for the Christmas tree. The lights twinkled multiple colors and scattered the light around the room. Her purse sat on top of the fireplace mantle. As she reached for it, her eyes lingered on the two stockings hung with care. It had always been just one before, but now there were two. She felt a distinct stirring in her heart. Then she felt something else, something darker, like this was going to be her last Christmas.

The honking of a horn brought her out of the feeling. Gena ran out the door to the awaiting car, hearing the snow crunch beneath her feet.

* * *

"Elena, people are arriving," Stefan yelled from the bottom of the stairs.

"I'll be right down," she replied as she touched up her makeup. She stood up and straightened her navy blue dress. Then she turned and headed downstairs.

Meredith and Damon were the first to arrive. Meredith looked absolutely radiant as she walked into the room. Her maternity dress was classy and refined.

Elena still couldn't believe she was pregnant. Meredith had announced her condition around Thanksgiving. Everyone present at the feast was floored. The most surprising thing was that Damon had already known about it and that he hadn't told anyone. This certainly surprised Stefan, who was concerned for Mere.

She could remember Stefan calling Damon into another room to 'see him for a moment' after dinner. Unbeknownst to the brothers, Elena had put her ear up against the door and had heard the whole conversation.

Stefan had been the first one to start.

"So, Damon, how long have you known about this?"

"Why does it matter, little brother? What's with the interrogation?"

"I just want to know what you're intentions are for her, that's all. I don't want you trying to get her when she's already so vulnerable."

Elena could tell by the silence that followed that the brothers were at a standstill.

"Look, saint Stefan, don't you think that if I wanted to take advantage of her, I would already? I mean, I had gone home with her while she was drunk and nothing happened! Give me just a little credit!"

"I just want to make sure she's all right, just like I wanted to make sure Bonnie was all right, and we both remember what happened to…"

"I KNOW! OK! God, you know Stefan, I did all I could! Do you think that I'm that SICK that I would WANT to see either of them HURT?"

"I'm just making sure that you weren't going to try something. And no, I don't think you'd want to hurt either of them intentionally…you've had plenty of opportunity and you're right, you haven't done anything. I'm just bit protective of the girls."

Then Elena heard them walking towards the door so she had fled, hoping they didn't suspect her of ease dropping.

"Darling, do you want to start serving dinner?"

Elena moved towards the kitchen, clearing her mind of the memories that had resurfaced. She helped Stefan with the food and carried it out onto neatly decorated buffet table, where everyone immediately swarmed.

She hadn't even noticed that all the guests, including Caroline, had arrived. Elena had not been surprised when Bonnie showed up with Matt, although she could tell that Damon was. He hadn't known they had moved in together right before Thanksgiving or that they had gotten close, really close. Their house was just a little bit away from Elena's, so they could still be in close contact.

They all gathered around the tree and fireplace to chat. Elena took a seat next to Stefan on their couch. Elena looked around the room and stopped when she got to Damon; his gaze was concentrated on someone. His black eyes were intense and seemed to be on fire. She followed his eyes and found out who it was and she was very surprised.

* * *

She was sitting on the loveseat next to Bonnie, her dress settled gracefully over her long legs. Her silky, dark hair was pulled back allowing the whole beauty of her face to be revealed. He got chills whenever he looked at her. He watched as she let Bonnie touch her slightly swelling belly.

Damon didn't know why he was infatuated with her. She was going to have a kid, and that was definitely not his type of woman; he didn't want to be tied down. Even so, he was mesmerized by her and there was no denying that.

He had moved out of her home about a month ago after she had gotten back on her feet again. At least someone had. He never thought he could be so attached to anyone else in his life, but since he moved away he missed her. Damon had never felt as much at home as he did when he was with Meredith. His own loft felt desolate and foreboding now.

That wasn't the only thing that had changed. He rarely went out woman hunting except for a quick snack; there had been no one in his bed since he was in Mere's. He once had three women crawling all over him and he turned them down. And then there was his daytime activity; sleep. It had been interrupted more than once in the past month. Every time he went to bed, he could swear that he felt her in his arms. It was almost too real for even him so he hadn't slept in a while.

_ 'I must be losing my freakin' mind,'_ he thought to himself, tuning everyone out in the process.

"Hey Stefan, remember that time Father gave me a baby rabbit for Christmas and it got out of it's pen," Gena asked.

"Oh, God," Damon groaned. "Old family stories? I don't think this night could get any worse!"

Stefan laughed out loud. "Yeah, of course I do! And I remember where it ended up as well; in Damon's bed! He ran out of his room so fast because of a tiny bunny."

Damon rolled his eyes. "Ok, I was wrong, it did get worse."


	24. Some Things Never Change

Thanks to annemarie delacour and Rachael for the reviews! They really help me to keep up with my writing! :-)

* * *

Three months had passed since Christmas and it had been three months since she started meeting Will in secrecy. She really didn't understand why she kept on coming to see him, but she was there like clockwork every Thursday night. Those were the nights when she had to 'work late' at the office.

'I wish I was at the office. At least it's warm there,' she thought to herself.

Instead, she was freezing her ass off, sitting on a park bench in the winter. She was looking at her shoes trying to think of warm thoughts when she heard shoes crunching in snow.

"Hey."

She looked up to see Will standing in front of her. His hands were in the pockets on his black jacket. His blonde hair hung over his deep blue eyes. He still looked like the man she had married so long ago.

"Hey," she said in reply.

He sat down next to her on the bench and put an arm over her shoulders. She sighed deeply. It felt so good to be in his arms again. They had brought her peace during a very hard time in her life. If she could, she would just dissolve right into him.

Then she remembered why she had come to the meeting that night. Gavin. He had become very suspicious and protective of her since Will showed up again. She had lied to him time and time again about the meetings. It was different now than previously, because she could sense his distrust in her. He knew they were drifting apart. The worst part was she had heard a phrase go through his mind once. _'Once a cheater, always a cheater.'_ Even though she wasn't cheating, since she had never even kissed Will again, she felt horrible.

"Will, we have to talk," she said as she made herself sit up straight and look directly in his eyes.

"Yes, Gena, what is it?"

"I can't meet with you anymore. I don't want to ruin anything that I have with Gavin."

"But you're not," he interjected. "We're not doing anything wrong. Is it a crime to just be with company you enjoy?"

"No, but its wrong when you have to lie to your significant other about it! I don't want to hurt anyone. Don't you care about what Zoe feels?"

"Of course I do, Gena! I love Zoe…but I also can't help what I feel about you!"

Gena looked at him with wide eyes.

"Will…I know you still care…I mean I still care about you too, but I can't feel that way for two people at once…"

He reached for her hand and brought it up in plain view.

"Then why are you still wearing my ring? You could have had another lapis lazuli talisman made, but you're still wearing this one. _Our_ wedding ring."

She looked down at the silver and blue ring on the ring finger of her left hand.

"I'm just used to wearing it, that's all. It's a part of my past and a part of me no matter what it symbolizes."

Will moved her chin up so that her gaze would be his.

"It symbolizes that I love you, Gena Salvatore, and I always will." He moved closer to her so that she could feel his warmth on her lips. She felt herself moving closer. She closed her eyes and there was only one person in her mind, and his eyes were brown.

Gena turned her head quickly and looked the other way. Will knew to back off.

"Will, I can't do this anymore. Seeing you again…it just brings back these old feelings that I haven't felt for a long time. But, I'm happy with Gavin. He's the first person that's made me completely whole since…well, since you. I don't want to do anything wrong. I want the relationship to be right."

Will lowered his head.

"I know," he said. "That's o…."

"But," she said, "I do want to have you in my life as well. I just think that, if we see each other, we should have Gavin and Zoe along with us."

Will finally raised his head up to meet her eyes.

"Ok, Gena. That sounds like a deal to me."

* * *

Elena was sitting on her soft bed flipping through her photo album. There were a bunch of pictures of her and her friends at Robert E. Lee High School in 1991. A picture of her getting crowned Homecoming Queen during her Senior year. One of her and Stefan cuddled up together in his room.

She continued to flip through the book reveling in her past. There she was, in her cap and gown, receiving her degree in journalism in 1997. Then there was a photo of Stefan in his cap and gown getting his degree in International Business. A few pages later were where her wedding pictures from 1997 began. There were photos of her and Stefan saying their vows, dancing, cutting the cake, feeding each other, and posing with their wedding party. Those pictures represented one of the happiest days of her life…or her second life as a human. The only thing that dampened the event was the absence of her aunt and sister.

Elena smiled to herself and looked up. It was then that her eyes met the mirror on her nightstand across from the bed. She looked down at the pictures again and looked at the way she looked. She hadn't changed at all. It had been eleven years since she left Fell's Church and she looked exactly the same. There were no changes that would identify her real age of 29. It was a phenomena she just couldn't understand. Even Stefan was trying to figure out why she wasn't aging externally. Only time would tell.

Elena remained seated on the bed as Stefan entered the room with a suitcase.

"I'm going back to Italy," he said briefly. "There's a lead about Alaric and I'm going to go follow it."

That had been the third time in the passed month that he left to either follow a lead or do business. He would leave for days at a time, which left Elena completely alone for days at a time. She was used to him going on business trips, but recently, it was trying her patience.

"Stefan, can I at least go with you?"

"No, it's too dangerous, Elena. You're better off here," he said as he bent down to kiss the top of your head. "Don't worry, sweetie. I'll be back soon."

She stood up and strode across the room.

"And what if you're not," she cried out. "What if something happens and you have to leave me? Don't you remember what it was like when we were apart? Don't you remember how it was when I was…"

Her eyes filled with tears and she sank to the floor. Stefan's arms were around her immediately to comfort her.

"Yes," he said sadly, "I remember what it was like. Oh, how I missed you and everything about you. Maybe…maybe we've been taking this second…or third chance for granted. I mean, we accomplished a lot that we wanted to do, but…I had almost forgotten that there was a time when you weren't around."

His arms tightened more firmly around her.

"I'm sorry, Elena. I'm so sorry."

Elena looked up at him and gave him a kiss.

"It's ok, Stefan. I just want to be near you."

"I know. That's why I'm not going. I want to make sure I'll be around with you for a long time."


	25. Visions

Thanks for all the reviews! I'm glad people are enjoying the story. Keep checking back for a lot more updates soon. I promise it'll be worth it!

* * *

She stared into the candle and felt like she was losing herself and slowly dissolving into another world. Bonnie had been practicing controlling her trances for a while now. In actuality, she didn't even need candles anymore; she'd learned how to put herself under on her own. Although, on occasion, she still used them if there was something she wanted to search for in particular. 

Deeper and deeper she fell into darkness, searching for an answer to her question. But, instead of getting an answer, she saw three silhouettes in the deep abyss. They were completely in shadow except for a light far in the distance. The only light played off the top of the strangers' heads, only revealing some color of the strands of hair. The person in the middle was a woman with blonde hair. There were men on either side of her; one with black wavy hair, and one with straight black hair.

_ 'What does this mean,'_ she asked herself.

Then they started to walk away from Bonnie. She heard them laugh sadistically as they walked away. These entities were definitely not friendly and they weren't there to be played with. Although Bonnie couldn't put her finger on it, they weren't human either because they radiated power. Dark power.

With that, Bonnie was awoken from her trance to find herself back in the safety of her own room. She took out her diary and wrote down an account of her ethereal experience.

"Three people…a blonde woman and two dark haired men…," she said aloud as she wrote on the paper. "They weren't human and they had very strong powers. Hmm…"

Then it hit her. What was so powerful, and not human, and had consisted of individuals such as that; the vampire trio of Stefan, Damon, and Elena.

"Is that what that meant? That they're going to reform the trio?"

_ 'That can't be it,'_ Bonnie thought, _'Elena would NEVER go back to that again…or would she?_'

* * *

Elena was walking down the aisle of a cozy chapel towards Stefan. Light poured in the stained glass windows and lit up the whole church. Her formal white gown and veil were trailing behind as Bonnie held it to keep it off the floor. Her heart leapt with every step as she went closer and closer to the altar. The grip on her arm tightened a bit and she turned to look at her escort. Damon looked, well, like a dad who deep down really didn't want to give his girl away. She had wanted Matt to give her away to Stefan, but he was no where to be found. Plus, it wasn't like she could call home and ask her Uncle Robert if he could do it. So she had asked Damon, who was already Stefan's 'best' man, if he would walk her. It was hard enough to get him to attend, let alone participate! But, with a lot of coaxing on Elena's part, he reluctantly accepted both positions. It was symbolic for all three of them, a kind of burying, or at least hiding of the hatchet. The gesture was also a way for Elena to let Damon know that she still cared so much about him that she wanted him to hold one of the most important roles for her in the ceremony.

As they reached the altar, she squeezed his hand to signal it was time to let go, literally and figuratively. She reached up and kissed his cheek during which he snuck in a brief hug before shaking hands with Stefan.

"Thank you," Stefan whispered to his brother.

"Yeah, well, you know…," he said with a shrug.

Then Damon took his place next to Stefan the way Meredith and Bonnie were next to Elena.

The ceremony continued and the ceremony of the rings was to begin.

"Repeat after me," the preacher said. "I, Stefan Salvatore."

"I, Stefan Salvatore, take you Elena Gilbert, to be my lawfully wedded wife. To have and to hold, in sickness and in health, to honor and to cherish, till death do us part."

He placed a ring with the word 'Amore' engraved in the white gold band with lapis lazuli accents.

"Now Elena, repeat after me," the preacher said again. "I, Elena Gilbert."

"I, Elena Gilbert, take you Stefan Salvatore, to be my lawfully wedded wife. To have and to hold, in sickness and in health, to honor and to cherish, till death do us part."

She took a hold of his hand and placed a white gold band with the word 'Love' engraved on his ring finger.

They smiled at each other as the preacher said, "By the power invested in me, I now pronounce you man and…" He stopped.

The couple looked at the preacher and followed his gaze to the chapel. In the front row were two people who hadn't been there before; Katherine and a dark haired stranger. Katherine smiled and got up. She walked over to Stefan and pushed Elena out of the way. The weird part was that Stefan didn't even seem to care that she was missing!

"Hey, Stefan," she yelled, "What are you doing?"

Katherine and Stefan started to slow dance together in front of the church. The weird thing was that no on in the wedding party seemed to care.

"What's wrong with you people," Elena yelled. "That's it!"

She walked over to the two, tapped Katherine on the shoulder, and punched her in the face. Katherine turned to her with blood coming out of her nose. A tear slipped out of the vampire's eye...and then she began to laugh. Then she looked down at Elena's hand. Her wedding ring was slipping off her finger.

Then Elena started to scream. The sunlight that had lit up the whole church for a beautiful ceremony was now killing her; it was burning her alive.

"NOOOO," she cried out in pain.

She felt herself falling in down on the floor. Her skin was scorched and her hair was on fire. The worst part wasn't the pain as much as Stefan just stood there and watched as she writhed in pain on the floor before her eyes closed and all there was left was darkness.

"Elena, wake up," Stefan cried. "Honey, wake up!"

Elena was thankful that she could open her eyes. She looked over at Stefan who looked terrified.

"What happened?" he asked as he wiped tears off his wife's face. "You were screaming and crying terribly. What was going on?"

She didn't answer him but he could see the images of the nightmare in her mind.

"Oh, Elena, that was probably because you were looking at our wedding pictures earlier." He put his arms around and felt her snuggle up to him. "It's ok. It was only a nightmare. That would never happen again; you're human again, remember? Just get some more sleep…I'll hold you and keep you safe. No more bad dreams."

Elena felt Stefan guiding her deeper and deeper into sleep.

_ 'Only good dreams…,'_ she heard Stefan say in her mind.

And yet she was still afraid of what could be awaiting her in the darkness.


	26. Mirror, Mirror

Damon watched the scene from afar through a crack in the semi-open door. Meredith was in her room filled with the pale light of the late January sun, standing in front of a full length mirror looking at her reflection. She was wearing a white t-shirt and a pair of white panties. Her long legs were lifting as she tried fit into a pair of jeans.

"Damn it," she yelled from in the room as she tried to button the front.

She laid down on the bed, sucked in her stomach, and tried to pull the zipper up. After struggling with a pair of pants for fifteen minutes, she stopped.

"Forget it, I give up," she said as she threw the jeans into a corner. She reached into her dresser and pulled out a pair of pale blue shorts with the stretchy waistband.

He inched towards her room and knocked on her door gently.

"Come in! Oh, I forgot you were here, Damon. Sorry."

"So, what was all the yelling all about," he asked, trying not to sound guilty.

She sighed loudly.

"It's those damn jeans! I could fit into them a couple of weeks ago and now…I'm lucky if I can wear anything that isn't made of spandex or lycra!"

Meredith turned back to the mirror and stood so that she could see her profile. She lifted her t-shirt up slightly to look at her belly and she rubbed it with her hand. In Damon's eyes, that was the only thing that had changed; the rest of her body was completely the same. She still had that strong, lean torso that complimented her long legs. Even now, she was gorgeous in his eyes.

"Look at me, I'm fat! I'm a whale," she said as she turned to Damon.

Damon couldn't help but laugh a little at Mere. She wasn't generally that insecure.

'_It must be all those changing hormones_,' he thought.

He walked over to her and made her look in the mirror.

"Look at yourself," he said. "You know, nothing about your body has changed except for the whole belly thing."

"But look," she said as she pointed to her stomach. "Even my belly button is sticking out now! Is that the reason those jeans don't fit?"

"News flash, Mere, you're six and a half months pregnant. You're lucky that you _could_ fit in those jeans a couple of weeks ago. But, you got to realize that you're not going to be able to really wear anything of a while…not that that's a real problem," he said as he gave her a devilish smile.

Meredith rolled her eyes and laughed.

"Oh, yeah, sure. Like that would happen. No body wants to see me like that. I'm just not…attractive right now. Yeah, that's the word, attractive."

Damon turned her around completely to look at him. He lifted Meredith's chin and looked at her as some of her dark strands fell over her eyes.

"I'm telling you right now that there is someone who finds you attractive."

And then he finally did was he had been waiting to do for a long time. He kissed her, and the kiss wasn't just a peck. It was filled with longing and passion. But, she wasn't kissing back. He stopped and backed off to look at her. They stood eyelevel facing each other in an awkward standoff.

It was Meredith who spoke next. She walked closer to Damon so that they were touching.

"You call that a kiss?"

Then she pulled him closer by the neck and started to kiss him with the same passion Damon had earlier. The kiss was filled with the same longing and tenderness as before only it was from Meredith. It might have been the very first time that Damon had been caught completely off guard.

* * *

Ring, ring. Ring, ring.

'_The phone's ringing_,' his mind told him.

Damon had just gotten to bed one hour ago after his he went out feeding; that made it five o'clock in the morning.

"Can't a guy just rest a little bit?"

He went to move his arm and found that he couldn't; because Meredith was laying on it. With little effort he was able to move her off with out disturbing her sleep. He kissed her forehead before he reached to answer Meredith's phone. But, by that time, the answering machine had picked up.

'_Oh, well,_' he thought as he wrapped his arms around Meredith.

"Hi, you've reached the Saltzman's. We're not here at the moment, but leave a message and we'll get back to you as soon as possible. Thanks!"

"Hey Mere, it's Bonnie, is Damon there by any chance? I tried to call his place but there was no answer and goddess only knows when he's going to get an answering machine. Anywho, if you talk to him, let him know that I'm looking for him. I need to speak to him immediately. Let's just say it's a matter of **great** importance. O.K….I…I need to go."

Click.

'_What was that all about,_' he asked himself.

She had sounded nervous and even a little frightened over the phone. Why would she want to call him? There was only one answer to that; it must be an emergency.

Damon moved Meredith off of his arm again, but this time, he woke her up.

"Hey, where're you going," Meredith asked sleepily as she readjusted herself on the bed.

"I have to go out, but I'll be back soon. Don't worry," he said as he threw on a shirt and jacket.

Meredith rolled over in bed as Damon closed the door behind him.


	27. Truth and Consequences

"So, that's it," she said as she sat across from him in the living room

Damon leaned back in the chair.

"Ok, Bon, so let me get this straight. You think Elena is going to turn into a vamp again?"

"I don't know, Damon. That's what my first response was. But now, after having so many of these visions, I don't know. I mean, I can't even go to sleep with out seeing the figures. And with every vision, they seem to be more powerful."

He rested his head on his chin and pondered quietly to himself.

"Well, maybe Elena is going to turn back again. I mean, she's going to age and eventually die. Maybe she doesn't want that anymore."

Bonnie looked at him oddly.

"You really think so? I don't even think Stefan would be willing to do it anymore, do you?"

"Who said it had to be Stefan to do it?"

"You wouldn't…would you?"

"If she asked me, I would. I don't think I could sit there and let her die if she didn't want to," he answered.

"So, were you planning on doing this already? Is that why I'm having to visions?"

"No! I just said I would, but she definitely wants to be human right now. She's happy this way."

Bonnie stopped to think again.

"Ok, well then what the hell does it mean?"

Damon looked at Bonnie sincerely.

"Bon, I have no idea; looks like we've got another mystery on our hands. Or maybe it's nothing to worry about. All I know is that I'll let Stefan know to keep a look out and I'll do the same. I haven't sensed anything odd lately, but I have been wrong before."

Bonnie then stood up as an indication that the meeting was over.

"Well, I just wanted to get a feel about what you thought about the whole thing. And thanks for coming over so fast. I really appreciate it."

"Hey, no problem, I'm just glad that there isn't anything really wrong."

With that he turned and left the apartment.

* * *

She listened to the message again_. Why would Bonnie need to see Damon at this hour? Wouldn't Matt find it a little odd? And why…_

Her thoughts stopped as she heard someone enter the room. She turned around to see Damon opening the door quietly and taking off his jacket.

"Hey," he said, "I thought you'd be asleep."

Meredith was not in the mood to play nice.

"I was, until I finally realized you weren't here. Then I saw the message blinking, thinking maybe you called, and then I heard Bonnie's message. Is she ok?"

"She's fine. Just a little shook up about a dream she had."

Then Meredith looked him straight in the eyes.

"Why did you lie to me?"

Damon gave her an odd look.

"Pardon me," he asked.

She walked closer to him and repeated her question.

"I asked why did you lie to me? I do remember you leaving now and I asked where you were going, and you said something like 'out.' Why didn't you let me know you were going to Bonnie's?"

Damon walked closer to her and rubbed her forearms.

"I just thought it wasn't important…"

Meredith pulled away from his hands.

"Well, it's damn well important to me! Bonnie's my friend, but don't you think it's weird when the ex-lover calls here looking for you at some god-forsaken hour in the morning? What else am I supposed to think?"

"Hmm…how about, she's a friend who was in trouble…"

Meredith cut in.

"And you're the only person she'd call? What about me? I've known her since we were tiny kids, and she'd be searching for you!"

"Hey, stop it, Mere! You're being completely ridiculous! If you're insinuating that I did something with Bonnie, then you're completely crazy! Why the hell would I do that?"

"Then why did you lie," she yelled.

"I don't know, damn it! I didn't think you'd be pulling all this on me as soon as I walk through the damn door!"

"You know what Damon, I think you should just leave."

"What," he asked as he moved closer to her.

She moved back.

"I said to go home."

With that, Damon snarled and grabbed his jacket. He ran to the window and kicked it open and was gone instantaneously, leaving only feathers in his wake.

* * *

As he entered his loft, he punched a hole in the wall. Why hadn't he told her where he was going? Why the hell was this getting to her anyway?

Whatever the reason, he was pissed. The echoes of her telling him to leave were ringing in his head.

_'I said to go home.'_

There was no home for Damon Salvatore. He couldn't think of any place that had felt like home since his mother had died. That made up for a good chunk of his life; mortal and undead.

He reached for a bottle of wine from the fridge and sat down on his black leather chaise to drink it.

"No better way to drown your sorrows," he said as he took a long drink.

The early morning hours were spent in the darkness of his apartment trying to not think about Meredith. He couldn't help but picture her sleeping soundly in her bed. How her long dark hair cascaded on the pillow. How her body looked wrapped up in the sheets. She was a gorgeous creature and she always had been. Now, she might be lost to him because of one stupid mistake.

* * *

Meredith sat on the edge of the bed sniffling. Why had she kicked him out? It was like she couldn't control herself. It was probably from all the times Alaric had lied about where he was going on his paranormal trips. It had always been for 'her own protection.' Even so, she had still felt betrayed and tonight had brought back all those bad memories.

Then the phone rang.

"I'm not going to answer it," she said aloud. She didn't want to talk to Damon right now. Then again, Damon was never the type to plea for their forgiveness either.

The answering machine picked up and heard a familiar voice.

"Hey Mere, it's Bon. We need to …"

"Talk," Meredith said as she picked up the phone.

"Oh, hey. Yeah, we need to talk. Listen, I wanted to apologize for sending you that weird message. I just needed to talk to Damon."

"Yeah, so I heard," Meredith said.

"I had a really weird vision and wanted to get his take on it. It turns out, it's probably nothing really…or at least nothing either of us could figure out."

"Was it so important that you had to call him this early in the morning? And does Matt know?"

Bonnie paused.

"Why would Matt care?"

"Don't you think he would find it odd? I sure did."

Bonnie started to laugh a little.

"Meredith, are you saying you thought we….," she said as she laughed.

"I don't know, Bon," Meredith replied.

"Listen, I'll let you know right now that we didn't and I wouldn't. I love Matt. I wouldn't do anything to hurt him. I can't believe you're jealous!"

"I am not jealous!"

"Yes you are," Bonnie said as she giggled. "By the way, if anyone should be jealous, it should be me! I've never seen him act so civil. I could hardly be in the room with Damon for longer than a few hours with out a fight, and you guys can co-exist with out trying to kill each other. It's refreshing actually. "

Meredith paused and almost dropped the phone.

"Well, maybe I broke that already. We had a fight when he came back here, and then he left… well, I did pretty much tell him to get out."

"You really did? Wow. Hey…why was he going back to your place at 5 in the morning anyway…"

Meredith cut her off.

"Listen, I got to go," she said as she hung up the phone and grabbed her winter jacket on her way out the door.


	28. Pushed

Meredith ran down the stairs of her apartment building and out into the streets of the city. It wasn't a bad place, but there was always something weird about empty streets at night and early morning. Besides, if anyone tried anything stupid, she always carried mace, her cell phone, and a pocket knife.

She had quite a walk ahead of her and frankly she didn't feel like driving. There was something refreshing about being out of the house and in the night air. It almost reminded her of Fell's Church. When they were younger, Elena, Bonnie, Caroline and herself used to play ghost in the graveyard at night. There was just something about being out in the night that made her feel like she was home.

She made herself aware of the environment as she followed the sidewalk. His place was only two blocks down from Edison Street. She walked one more block and crossed the street. At the corner, she could see his building. Meredith had never been to his place before and she could bet that besides Stefan, no one else had been there. . It was about six stories tall, with huge tinted windows that overlooked the city. The building was modern, dark and looked like the perfect place for a vampire to live…a rich vampire to live She could tell from the security system that the building wasn't cheap.

With her right hand on the rail, she walked up the front stoop of the building. Meredith scanned the well-lit panel for a list of names of the residents. There weren't any. It seemed that the people who lived there wanted to live in secrecy. She pressed the red button in the center to be let in. It was followed with a beep and a man's voice.

"Yes, can I help you," the man asked politely.

"Could I speak to Mr. Salvatore, please," Meredith replied.

"One moment," he said, followed by a pause.

She continued to stand facing the large door while the request was being forwarded up to his room. Then she heard someone behind her. She quickly turned around and found no one there. But then she heard someone again, laughing or joking about something and this time it was next to her. Mere turned towards the sound to find no one once again. She again to look at the place she had first heard the sound, ready to fight if it was someone who meant harm. Then she felt hands on her back shove her hard and her bodied careened out of control. With her hands prepared to brace the fall, she found herself falling face first down a flight of stairs. Then, as soon as it had begun, it was over and she was lying on back on the hard sidewalk. She couldn't think of where she had been hit during her plummet, but her hands went instinctively for her stomach.

"Mr. Salvatore, I think something happened outside! I was watching on the security cameras and she just fell down the stairs!"

"Call for an ambulance," he yelled.

Mere could here footsteps pounding down the stairs closer to her. She felt hands on her head, trying to get her to look at whoever was holding her.

"Mere…can you hear me? Can you look at me?"

She lolled her head to the side and looked up to see Damon with concern.

_'Yes, I can hear you,'_ she thought but was unable to say.

_'Just don't move, ok,'_ he said telepathically.

He took off his jacket and put it over her and watched her carefully until the sirens of the ambulance were close. Then Meredith went unconscious.

* * *

"She took quite a nasty fall," the doctor told the group. Damon had called Stefan once he reached the hospital…who told Elena, who told Bonnie, and so on. So, it turned out they were all there.

"What about the baby," Elena asked.

"The baby is fine. She's lucky though. If she wouldn't have braced herself at all, then she would have lost the baby for sure."

Damon pulled Stefan to the side. In his hands was a video tape marked 'June 21 2003.'

"I want you to have a look at this. There's a VCR and television in the lounge. Just take a look and see what you think. I'm going to go in and check on Mere."

Stefan nodded and walked towards the waiting room as Damon moved quietly passed the hospital staff to Meredith's room. She was comfortably lying in the bed, arm rails up, with an I.V. attached to her arm. There were also monitors attached to her stomach to watch how her child was handling the trauma.

Damon brought a chair to the side of the bed and sat down. He put a hand on her leg and just watched her. Her body had several bruises and there was a gash on her face from the fall. Then, she opened her eyes.

"Hey," she said.

"Hey, Mere."

She looked around the room in a daze and looked back at Damon.

"Where am I," she asked.

"You're in the hospital," he said. "You were in an accident. You fell down the stairs of my apartment."

He could tell that Meredith was trying to figure out what had happened, replaying the events in her head.

"I tried to catch myself, but I couldn't. I didn't fall on my own, something pushed me," she said.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, Damon. There was…someone else there. I felt something and heard a laugh. I was turning to find out what was going on, and then I felt someone push me. Don't you believe me," she asked.

"I do. You're right, you were pushed by…something. It showed up on the surveillance video tape. You can clearly see that you were pushed, but there was nothing behind you," Damon said matter-of-factly.

"Nothing? Then what the hell was it?"

Damon shrugged as he leaned back in the chair and rested his feet on her bed. She looked at him jokingly and pushed his feet off.

"Don't mess up the merchandise, Damon."

She raised her arms towards him for a hug. He looked at her reluctantly and leaned into her, his arms wrapping around her form.

"Why were coming to my place that early in the morning anyway," he asked.

"I came to say…" But she couldn't say it, just like he couldn't say it. Then again, there was no need. Holding each other close, they knew that anything hurtful had been put to rest.

* * *

"You're free to go," the doctor informed Meredith. Meredith sat down in the wheel chair. Elena took the helm. 

"Thanks, Doc. I'll call you if anything else happens."

Elena started to push her down the hall towards the exit. The automatic doors opened and Stefan was waiting at the car with the door open. Elena and Stefan helped her in the passenger seat. Elena tried to belt her in, but Mere slapped her hand away, and did it herself.

"Gee, Elena, I'm not crippled. I can do it myself."

"Do you want to be," Elena asked, jokingly punching her friend in the arm.

When they were all buckled up, Stefan drove the group towards his house in the suburbs. Elena helped Meredith move into the house and into a comfortable chair while Stefan grabbed some stuff from the trunk. Once everyone was settled, Stefan called Damon, who came right over to his brother's house. The party sat in the living room together discussing the events that had occurred some days before.

"Alright, Mere, I want you to watch this video," he said as he placed the video cassette in the VCR.

The girls watched the surveillance tape in horror. Stefan and Damon had watched that tape over and over trying to figure out how it happened. She had either really lost her equilibrium or she was pushed; they couldn't come to any other conclusion.

"She looks like she was pushed," Elena said.

"I told you guys," Mere jumped in, "I felt something push me. I didn't lose my balance. I have great balance!"

Elena shook her head in agreement.

"She's right; the rest of us used to fall all over our own feet when we were kids, but Mere had the balance of a gymnast. Plus, her belly's not that big where she would have fallen over."

Stefan rewound the tape and turned up the volume.

"Listen carefully this time."

Elena and Meredith closed their eyes and listened. Right before Meredith was pushed, you could her someone laughing.

"That's it," Mere yelled. "That's what I heard! Someone was…giggling. I turned to see where it came from and there was no one there!"

Damon was focused.

"Do you think you were followed that night," he asked.

"I don't think so," she said, trying to remember that night. "The streets were pretty empty, but I was always aware when someone else was around."

Stefan and Damon looked at each other and the girls knew they were talking using telepathy. Elena rolled her eyes and started talking to Meredith.

"Do you feel any better?"

"I feel…Ok. As long as I'm physically ok, I don't care about the emotional stuff right now."

"Do you want to stay with us for a while?"

"Thanks for the offer, but I would really feel more comfortable at home."

The girls hadn't realized but the brothers had stopped 'talking' and were listening to their conversation.

"Meredith," Stefan said, "I would feel better if you stayed here. That way, I could keep an eye on you."

"Listen Stefan, I really want to go home. All of my stuff is there and, well, it's my home."

Stefan opened his mouth to disagree, but Damon jumped in.

"I think she should go home. It will be more comfortable for her right now. Plus, we can still watch her. All of us should take turns going over there and watching her."

"I'll call Bonnie and Gena to see if they want to help," Elena added.

"That sounds like a good idea," Stefan said. "Damon, I think we should go and follow her route to your place and see if there is anything suspicious."

Damon stood up and was already moving towards the door. The boys left the cozy living room with Elena and Meredith still sitting. Elena reached over and rubbed Meredith's arm.

"Are you sure you're ok?"

"You know, Elena, you're going to drive me nuts! But, I am a little hungry. That hospital food was gross."

"Well, you wait right here and I'll make you something to eat."

While Elena was making her friend a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, she picked up the phone and called Gena.


	29. Strange Occurences

"Ok, Elena that sounds good. I can be on duty tonight. Tell Stefan I said hello. Ok. Bye."

She placed the phone back on the receiver and called out to Gavin, who was in the living room.

"Gav, looks like I'm heading over to Meredith's tonight. Someone attacked her and my brothers thought it would be best to take turns looking out for her."

The phone began to ring again.

"Hello," Gena said. "Hi Em…calm down. What happened? Uh huh…what a jerk! No, I can't tonight; I have something important to do, but maybe sometime next week? Ok, take care, bye."

"Well, that was weird," she said to Gavin. She walked into the living room and sprawled out on the couch. Gavin looked at her from his chair.

"What was weird?"

"That was Em, my friend from college. It seems that my ex-boyfriend Philip left her for another woman. She wanted to get the whole gang together tonight and hang out. At least she has a new boyfriend."

"That guy really was a jerk," Gavin said.

"See why I had to ditch him? He was very…manipulative. There was something wrong with him. He used to get _so_ angry. But then again, I was never scared of him. Little did he know, I could've killed him pretty easily."

* * *

It was the very end of February when Gena started feeling a presence. It made her hair stand on end and created chills down her spine; not a lot of things could do that. There was almost something in the air that made everyone uneasy, and it seemed to her that the rest of the group could sense it as well. Stefan seemed to be in a constant state of alertness and seemed to be caught up in déjà vu. Whatever was going on, it wasn't good.

Gena was worried about everyone, but with Stefan, Damon, and herself taking care of the group, she still had one or two others to worry about. That's when she decided to call Will.

"Hi Will, how are you doing?"

"Hello Gena. I haven't heard from you in a while. It's been…ok here. Zoe hasn't been feeling well lately."

"Oh, that's too bad. Give that crazy girl my love. What's wrong with her?"

There was a pause and a sigh on the other end.

"That's the thing; nothing is physically wrong with her. I've taken her to doctor after doctor and nothing. She lays in bed all day like she's in a coma. She won't talk to me and some days, it seems like she doesn't even know I'm here!"

"That's really odd," Gena said. "Have you listened to her thoughts?"

"I've tried, just to see what she was thinking. But, it's like she's not. The only thing she has said in the last week is '_it happened before and it will happen again_'."

"Listen, Will, something is going on. I think Zoe is being affected by it as well. Meredith was attacked a couple of weeks ago by…something. We don't know what happened, but we're sure she was pushed. Stefan, Damon, and I have been doing rounds and trying to find out what's going on. There's just…"

"It _feels_ bad. I know, I can sense it too; something is just not right," Will stated.

"I called because I was worried about you and Zo. Keep an eye out for anything unusual or out of place. We may need another vampire for reinforcements someday; can I count you it?"

"Of course."

"Alright, take care of yourself, Will. Watch my friend, and if she gets any worse, give us a call."

"I will. Be careful, Gena. Bye."

The click on the other end signaled that the conversation was over, but Gena held onto the phone before she hung up.

_'What's going on,'_ she thought to herself.

Images were running through her head: Meredith falling down the stairs, Zoe lying comatose in her bed, and something monstrous lying in wait. Just for the right moment.

"Gena."

"Huh? Oh, hi there," she greeted Gavin.

"Are you ok? What happened on the phone? Who did you call," he asked as he began to rub her shoulders.

The nice gesture slightly eased her tension and she allowed herself to set the phone down on the receiver.

"I called Will. I wanted to let him know what happened, and I got worse news."

"Worse?"

"My friend Zoe is completely lethargic. She can't communicate, she doesn't acknowledge anyone, and there is nothing wrong with her. The only thing she's said is something like 'it happened before, it'll happen again.' I have no idea what that means."

"Me neither," Gav replied. "Listen, Gena, you've been really stressed lately. I was thinking, if things seem to calm down in the next few days, do you want to go on vacation?"

"Vacation? Now?"

"Yeah, just a little trip just me and you for a few days; a time to relax and clear our heads. What do you think?"

Gena eyed him carefully

"I think you're crazy, but I'm up for it."

"Well, where do you want to go?"

"I actually haven't been to Florida in…well…four hundred years. Could we go there? I'll show you where I used to live; St. Augustine."

"Of course, I'll go make the arrangements," he said. He then gave her a kiss and spoke to a travel agent on the phone.

With some luck, they found a flight to Florida early the next morning. The hurriedly packed some things for a week and a half journey for the two of them. They drove to the airport before the sun started to come up, and Gena was actually happy about their whirl-wind expedition.

_'This is going to be fun,' _she told herself.

Just as Gavin made the turn into the airport entrance, Gena's cell phone rang.

"Hello," she answered.

"Hey, it's Stefan, where are you?"

"Why? Is something wrong?"

She could hear Stefan's relieved sigh.

"No, we were worried something was wrong with you."

"Oh, sorry. Yeah, I forgot to mention that Gav and I are going to a little trip to Florida. We'll be there for about a week. Let me know if anything strange happens and I'll be home instantly."

"I will. Be safe, sis."

"I'll be ok, Stefan. Just worry about yourself, and that other brother."

"Worry about your own self," Damon shouted from a distance.

After standing in line in the baggage check for a few minutes, Gena and Gavin headed to their plane. They found two comfy seats in an exit row and got comfortable for the two hour flight. Gena couldn't wait to see the beaches; the white sand eerily bright compared to the dazzling blue and teal of the Atlantic Ocean. She couldn't wait to show Gavin where she spent some time in her life. And she couldn't help thinking that she was right, she sure needed a vacation.


	30. A Little Jumpy

_'He's going to kill me,' _she thought to herself.

She was panicking and didn't know what to do.

"Please don't hurt me," she yelled at her assailant. "Leave me alone!"

_ 'I'm dead.'_

"Meredith, wake up!"

Meredith opened her swollen eyes and was looking up at Damon. He was leaning over the bed, trying to see what was wrong. She screamed.

"Shh...you're ok, it was just a nightmare."

"Get away from me," she screamed at him.

She backed away and pulled her legs up close to her and wrapped her arms around her knees. Damon just gave her an odd stare.

"You're scared of me? Besides the obvious reasons why you should be scared of a vampire in your room, may I ask why you're frightened now?"

_'It was a dream,'_ Meredith thought to herself. _'A stupid dream.'_

And yet the images stayed fresh in her mind and made her wonder. Could it happen? The dream had played out in her mind over and over for the last few weeks. She found herself reluctant around Damon. Whenever he would go to lead her somewhere or near her in anyway, she would retreat. Meredith could sense Damon got the gist of her actions and backed off to give her some space, but she could tell, although he would never admit it, he was starting to feel unwanted

"Damon," she began, "I want to tell you about this nightmare."

He took a seat on the edge of the bed.

"Ok, shoot."

"I'm in my room, looking at myself in the mirror. It was like that one day a couple of months you. You come up to embrace me and put your hand on my stomach. Then I just feel this horrible, agonizing pain and I can feel myself dying right there! And you don't do anything about it."

Damon took a hand and held her chin and looked directly in her eyes.

"Listen, Mere. I would never, ever, do anything to hurt you or that baby of yours. How could you even think that? I could have left you and the other humans alone in the clearing that night. You were almost dead when I got there! Klaus would have made sure you were dead if I didn't show up for Stefan. I could have killed you easier then if I wanted to.."

"Damon?

"The point is, I don't have any reason to kill you. Frankly, I don't want to. I've grown attached to you after all these years, and I would rather have you stick around. I care about you, Meredith, and I would rather die than to see you or your child hurt."

Damon had opened up to her in his own way and it brought tears to her eyes.

"You're not too bad yourself. I'm sorry that I doubted you. Besides, you couldn't hurt me anyway."

He took hold of her hand and turned it over to playfully nip at her wrist.

"Oh, a challenge," he said jokingly.

He turned her delicate wrist over again and kissed the top of her hand. Then, he once again flipped it over and kissed the palm of her hand. She moved her hand to cup his face. Meredith then grabbed hold of his hand and placed it on her stomach; Damon was in too much of a shock to pull his hand away.

He could feel something moving, like something out of a sci-fi movie.

"Can you feel it? It's the baby moving. It knows when you're around, Damon. It recognizes your voice. Whenever you're here, it jumps around and kicks me," she laughed.

His hand stayed there on its own volition. The feeling was just so odd; it was a sense of deja vu so strong that he couldn't ignore it for the same scene had played out about 517 years ago. He was almost three and his mother was pregnant with Stefan. This time, he could control the situation and make sure that Meredith was safe and he swore to protect against anything and everything.

He leaned in closer to her and kissed her with a promise to always be there for her, no matter what and it seemed that it wasn't one sided.

* * *

"Hello, Damon."

"What is it, Stefan?"

"I'm thinking of calling Gena and telling her to come home; something is going on."

"Something different? How do you know?"

"Well, Bonnie has been trancing out a lot lately with absolutely **no memory** of it at all. She's so much stronger than she used to be and the last time she tranced with no recollection was Fell's Church! Elena's been having really weird nightmares. She's been so antsy lately and hasn't slept in a while."

"Stefan, Meredith has been having nightmares too. She's over tired and it isn't good for her health right now. I'm really concerned about her, but I didn't think it was connected in the big scheme of things."

"You really care about her, don't you Damon; I mean more than before."

Damon laughed into the receiver.

"Do you think I'm going to talk to you about my relationships, little brother?"

Stefan sighed.

"No, but it's pretty obvious that you care about her. I know you, Damon. I remember the womanizing vampire you used to be. Maybe you're turning into a one-woman?

"Or, maybe not; it's not any of your business either way. I'll tell you this much, I'm here to make sure she's safe and I'm not sure if she or the other girls are. If things don't stop, give Gena a call and make her come home."

"Well, we can't make her come home, Damon. She's a grown woman you know."

Damon laughed.

"Oh, I'll make her come home, even if I have to drag her back here myself."


	31. Rest and Relaxation?

"Hey, Gavin, can you put this sunscreen on me," she asked.

He moved over behind her in the lounge chair and applied the opaque liquid on her back.

"Thanks," she said with a smile.

"You know, I should have thought about you being a vampire and bringing you to a beach."

"It's ok. I've got my sunglasses, my hat, SPF 100 lotion, a cover up for my suit, a beach umbrella…I'll be fine. On the other hand, you need to reapply some lotion on your face; I'm not going to let you get skin cancer and leave me," she said as she hugged him.

They sat in their lounge chairs by the resort pool. The sounds of laughing and splashing filled the air. She was enjoying her time in her old neighborhood and she had given Gavin the grand tour of the town. One thing she could believe was the fort still stood where it had 300 years before. It was an incredible structure.

"Well, look who we have here," a voice said.

With her daydreaming interrupted, she opened her eyes and looked towards the voice.

"Philip, what the hell are you doing here," she asked, startled by his appearance in town.

"I'm here on vacation. My girlfriend and I just came from Daytona and then drove up here to St. Augustine for a few days; she said she wanted to visit."

"Oh, your new girlfriend."

"So you've talked to Em? I figured she'd call you. It just wasn't working out with her; she wasn't the one for me. My new girl friend is definitely more my type."

_'Well, then she likes being pushed around by an egotistical jack-ass. Smart girl.'_

"Oh, that's great, Philip. Gavin, we should get going anyway."

Philip eyed Gavin.

"Hey, I remember you. So, you guys are going out now?"

Gavin stood in front of Gena protectively.

"Yeah, we are," he said.

"That's…nice. Before you go, Gena, I want you to meet her. Hey Ginny, could you come here?"

Gena watched as a fit girl went for the ladder in the pool and walked over to Philip. She was short in height and then, but she was athletic looking. Her hair was brown, wavy, and shoulder length. Her eyes were a bright violet; she was really stunning. If it wasn't for her height, she could have been a model.

"Yeah, hi, I'm Gena," she said to the girl.

"I'm Virginia," she replied. "It's nice to finally meet you."

A little taken aback by the happy greeting to an ex-girlfriend, Gena just nodded in return and turned to Gav.

"Well, we really have to get going. Bye guys."

The couple walked up to their room at the resort. Gena immediately went to shower off all the sunscreen, while Gavin sat on the bed in the room. He opened the door so they could talk while she scrubbed.

"Don't you find this weird," Gavin asked. "What are the odds that your ex-boyfriend would be in the same city at the same time as you?"

"I don't know; maybe it's just a coincidence? It was weird though. And he was acting so…so nice. I haven't seen him like that since WE were going out. Plus, given the last time we really saw each other, I thought he hated me."

"Did you have a look at her?"

"Yeah; she's really pretty…"

"No, I mean a real look at her. Your senses must be off because there's something wrong with her. That girl had no life in her eyes. It was like no one was at home, if you know what I mean."

"Funny, but I didn't catch that kind of vibe. I think you need to chill out, bud. It was just a weird coincidence; I mean it's summer and people do tend to travel. Listen, I need to go feed after I shower, I'll just meet you here afterwards ok."

"Ok, but be careful."

Now she was full. There was a plethora of stupid college boys in the area drinking them selves into a stupor. She probably didn't need to wipe their minds afterward; the alcohol had already accomplished that.

_'Why do these people waste their money on college?'_

She arrived back at the resort at midnight. The moon was full and glittered on the surface of the water. The waves crashed against the shore and the sand fizzled as it retreated. It was a beautiful site that she hadn't seen in years, and frankly, she didn't want to leave it just yet.

With little effort, she was able to hop the fence surrounding the closed pool. She threw off her clothes and jumped in the hotel pool in her bra and panties. Floating on her back in the pool, she looked up at the stars and the huge moon that lit up the whole resort. Her body relaxed as the palm trees swayed in the breeze. It made her sigh.

Then she felt something grab her leg. Her body and head were submerged underwater. She flailed her arms in an attempt to surface, but something very strong was holding her. Gena opened her eyes in the highly chlorinated pool to finger her attacker, and she got a shock; there was no one in the pool. She thought that maybe she was fooling herself. Maybe her senses were thrown off balance like Gavin had said. With all of her available strength, she forced herself up of the water, but she could still feel the phantom attacker gripping her ankle. And it wasn't going to let go until it was finished.

"Help," Gena cried. "Someone help me!"

Arms waving frantically in hopes someone would hear or see her, she tried to grab the edge of the pool. She missed it by a few inches. Then her foe pulled her under again for the final time and he wasn't going to let her go. She was getting dragged to the bottom of the deep end. Even against her vampire strength, if held her down easily.

Then she felt a sharp, intense electrical pain run through her body. It almost felt like she was...being bit by a vampire. It was the piercing pain of teeth but was more like the excrutiating pain from her transformation.

That's when she saw the blood swirling in the water.

_'I need air,' _she thought illogically._ 'No, I need blood.'_

But that wasn't going to happen. She lay in the pool, feeling the smoothed concrete on her back. The stars and moon still shone brightly up ahead, but they were now distorted under the water. Unfortunately now, she couldn't hear the beautiful sounds of the ocean and the trees. The last thing she heard was the sound of something coming for her in the dark depths of the pool.

"Breathe! Damn it, Gena!"

Gena opened her eyes and spewed some water and was pushed on her side by someone.

_'I'm alive,'_ she thought. _'I can breathe.'_

She looked to her rescuer; Gavin. He was dripping wet in his clothes and his face was stained by tears. He looked at her and held her close in his arms.

"Oh thank god," he said. "I told you to be careful. What the hell happened out here?"

Gena focused her eyes on the scene and saw that there were a lot of people around.

"I…fell in. It was an accident. I fell in and hit my head," she said to the masses.

"Call the hospital," a man yelled.

"That's not necessary; I'm fine," Gena said. "Thank you all for your concern, but I think I just need to lie down and rest."

Gavin lifted her into his arms and carried her to their room. He laid her on the bed and continued to hang on to her. He kissed her lightly on the forehead.

"I thought you were dead," he said softly.

"I thought I was too. Gavin, we need to go home."

"Right now? But, you're in no condition to travel right now…"

"Don't argue; we need to leave right now."

"What's wrong?"

"I didn't fall in. I went for a moonlit swim. Gavin, something was pulling me under; it was holding me down and I couldn't get up. I looked and there was no one there."

"Just like Meredith's attacker."

"Exactly; we have to get back home immediately; it's happen before and it will happen again."

She hissed in pain as felt the same intense pain.

"What's wrong," Gavin asked in concern.

Gena pulled back her oil-slick hair and she showed him her neck. He gasped as he saw what appeared to be an old bite mark but it was more of a swollen, purple bruise. It appeared to have already started to heal, although some part were still oozing blood. He immediately ran to get a towel to wipe away an remaining blood.

"Gena, did you lose a lot?"

"I don't know," she responded weakly.

He leaned over her and stroked her face. With gentle care, he lifted her head towards his neck.

"Drink," he ordered. She happily obliged, feeling her strength come back with every trickle down her throat.


	32. The Attacker Revealed

There was a knock at the door at three in the morning. Stefan went and answered the door to his home trying not to wake Elena. Gavin was at the door with Gena leaning against his arm.

"Are you sure you're ok, Gena? You've been through a lot tonight; why don't you take it easy."

"I'm fine," she yelled.

"What's going on," Elena said through a yawn at the top of the stairs.

'So much for trying not to wake her up,' Stefan thought.

Gena sat down on the couch next to Damon. She had called them on her cell phone from the airport. The story of her attack had brought chills down everyone's spine. They could tell that their sister was shaken.

"Sit down, Elena. We all have to have a little chat," Damon instructed.

With every seated, the inquisition began.

"Tell us everything; don't leave anything out," Damon said.

Gena told the group of the vacation and of the events that evening.

"Wait, you forgot about Philip," Gavin interjected.

"Philip," Stefan inquired.

"My ex-boyfriend was there with his new girlfriend…"

"Don't you guys think that's a little weird," Gavin solicited.

"We'll keep that in mind; it definitely has the possibility of being related."

"Call Will," Gena instructed.

She turned and looked at Gavin.

"I think we're going to need some back up; something is going to happen tonight."

"Gena, let me use your cell phone. I'm going to call Bonnie and see how Meredith is holding up," Elena said.

Elena dialed the number and held the portable phone to her ear. Then a look of anxiety came to her face.

"You guys; no one is answering the phone."

* * *

Bonnie was sleeping in the bed next to Meredith when she sensed something that was not right. There was something in the house and it was moving.

'Oh crap,' she thought.

"Mere," she whispered. "I'm going to call the guys; there's something here. Just pretend you're sleeping."

"No way," Meredith replied. "I'm going to let that thing push me around again."

Bonnie got off of the bed and reached for the phone. When she picked it up, there was no dial tone.

"What the hell? Meredith the phone is dead; we have to get out of here."

"Bonnie, we're on the second floor; they'll see us right away. I would jump out the window but I can't with the baby. We have to wait for the right time leave. We have listen for their footsteps to get the gist of where they could be in the house," Meredith whispered to her friend.

"Ok," she retorted. "I'll try to psychically shield our presence."

"That won't be necessary, girls."

The two women looked to the doorway and saw the silhouette of a woman. She walked further into the room and Bonnie and Meredith could make out her features; she had brown wavy hair and dazzlingly violet eyes. Smiling, she sauntered over to the girls and took hold of Meredith. The young mother-to-be fought as hard as she could, but the brunette was too strong. Bonnie was being held back by some sort of power that was way beyond hers.

"Don't you too recognize me? Phooey, I thought you wouldn't," she said childishly."

Then something happened; the aura around the woman changed. It was no longer the athletic stranger, but someone more familiar. Those violet eyes turned to the lapis lazuli blue they remembered.

"Katherine!"

"You didn't think it was me, did you? I knew this was the perfect body," she giggled.

Meredith struggled even harder in the dead vampire's arms.

"You're dead," Meredith said. "All you are is ashes in Fell's Church. It's just an illusion."

Katherine rolled her eyes.

"Oh please," she said as she twisted Meredith's arm.

"Ouch!"

Bonnie tried to move and go to her friend but power was holding her back.

"Now, you just stay there, redhead. Meredith and I have a little business to attend to. She's been a bad girl; she tried to take my Damon away from me," she whimpered.

"Screw you," Meredith yelled. "Who the hell are you to tell me who I can and can't love; he's his own person. You're just jealous because he never really loved you."

This time, Katherine twisted Meredith's wrist and broke it in one single movement. Meredith screamed out in pain.

"There, see what you made me do? We're leaving now."

With that, the two were gone and Bonnie was left alone. She gathered up all her strength and sent a clear message to Damon: _Help us!_

* * *

"They're in trouble; we need to go now," Damon said, reacting to the thoughts he received.

Then the house went dark. The power was completely out and messing with the fuses didn't help.

"The phone's dead too," Elena said quietly.

"I'm going. Stefan, stay here and watch Elena and Gena," Damon said.

"I'll go with you," Gena said.

"No, you're not. You're staying right here, little sis."

"Damon, shut up. I can help! I'm a good fighter and I'm not a little girl anymore."

He rolled his eyes.

"Fine, but you have to watch out for yourself."

Damon and Gena reached the front door of the house and found it locked…from the outside.

Gena could sense something in the air and it wasn't good. She started looking around and she felt her canines lengthen. Her friends and family stared at her but she didn't care, even with the looks of horror. The only person who looked at her with admiration was Damon.

"Something's here," she said.

_'It's right here.'_

She could see something move and she leaped towards the menace. The intruder hit her in the back, but she landed on her hands and did a backwards flip.

"I guess all those years of gymnastics finally paid off," she said.

Then she saw her opponent walk towards.

"Virgina," she asked.

She giggled and let her shields drop.

A collective gasp filled the room.

Gena growled.

"Katherine," she screamed.

"You're dead," Stefan said in awe.

"You silly boy; what makes you think that if your little blonde bitch couldn't come back that I couldn't come back? I just came back a different way."

"Wait, but weren't you the little blonde bitch," Damon smirked.

Katherine's face grew darker.

"Now that wasn't nice. You're just lucky I don't want you anymore. Now I have the partners that I always wanted; the people I want to spend the rest of my eternity with. Sweetie, won't you step forward," she asked.

Out of the darkness approached a male figure. Philip stepped out of the corner and put his arms around Katherine.

"Why," Gena asked.

"Oh, when she told me her story, I thought it was great and plus, I couldn't pass up the opportunity to get revenge on you for cheating on me. No one does that and gets away with it."

He moved almost too quickly for a young vampire and grabbed Gena so she couldn't move. The others tried to come to her aid and help but Katherine held them at bay with her new powers. Philip got a good hold on Gena's neck and looked to smirk at Gavin.

Katherine was almost prancing around the room.

"Oh, but there's one more person that wanted to see you, Gena."

Another figure was coming out of the darkness and this one radiated pure, unadulterated hatred.

"Are you surprised," he said with an accent.

"Oh, no. It can't be," Gena said frantically.

Dante stood in the room next to Katherine, eyeing their victory with triumph.

"Don't you dare touch her," Stefan screamed at Dante.

Gena could sense that Stefan and Damon were completely frustrated by their lack of mobility, and right now, she was too. One vampire against three very strong ones was not good odds at all.

As Philip held her, Dante approached her and grabbed her by the neck.

"Oh, I remember that pretty little neck of yours. Then that…boy tried to take you from me. We won't have to worry about him; he's being taken care of. I've been tracking you down for five hundred years, cara. You will be mine whether you like it or not," he scowled.

Then, to everyone's horror, he sunk his teeth into her neck. Gena cried out in pain Dante sent wave after wave of pain and torture into her. She knew she was screaming out but all she could hear was Gavin yelling for Dante to stop. Then Gena could hardly hear anything at all. It was if she was still underwater in that pool, hearing muffled sounds of the ocean from a distance. Her sight got darker and she knew he was going to drain her till the point of death.

_'After all this time, he's finally won,'_ she thought as she drifted out of consciousness.

* * *

Damon watched at Dante picked up the limp body of his sister and carried her away. He was beyond rage. Philip went over to Gavin and started to beat him to a bloody pulp. After he had mauled him for a short time, Philip picked up the beaten male and carried him off as well.

Katherine glared at the rest of them with intensity and determination; the looked of a conqueror. Damon was snarling with anger and tried to break free of his invisible captivity, all the while thinking of Meredith, Bonnie, and Gena. He turned to look at his brother and found him huddled in the corner protectively holding his wife protectively.

Their villain saw the protective embrace and used her powers to break the couple apart, sending Elena across the room into a wall. Elena stood up and sent her own power into Katherine, knocking the darker soul to the ground. From the ground, Katherine looked up to the other blonde with shock and left to finish her quest.

As Elena slumped down the wall to the ground, Stefan grabbed her and held his wife in his arms. Damon knelt down to see her condition, but was still in shock from the scene that had taken place. Most of all, he was surprised at how Elena stood her ground and had that much power.

"Elena, how did you do that," Stefan asked.

She was shaking against him, obviously traumatized by the appearance her late foe.

"I have no idea," she answered.

Damon had enough. He had lost his someone he cared about for the last 500 years. Over and over in a continuous cycle, the people he cared about most had died before him. First it was his beloved mother, then it was Gena, then Katherine, then Elena, and he had almost lost Bonnie. Now Meredith was being threatened and there was no way in hell that he was going to lose her.

He stood up gallantly on his feet and looked to his brother who was still sitting on the ground.

"I'm going to find them. Elena, go find Bonnie and stay together. Are you coming Stefan?"


	33. Captives

Gena woke up in a strange room. With tired hunter eyes, she looked around the room for anything suspicious. Her hands felt clothe and stuffing underneath her.

_'I'm on a bed,'_ she thought.

And she was exhausted. Her body struggled to lift itself up, but she was too weak from the blood that Dante had taken from her. As she moved, she noticed her body was beaten and bruised on almost every part of her body. The worst was her neck, which was still crusty with blood, and her dislocated shoulder. With a few well placed pushes and grunts, she was able to move her shoulder back into his proper place. In her mind, she saw the left over images of her attack; Dante and Philip had taken their time beating her body, and they had left her on the bed to finish off what they had started. Gena didn't even want to think about what they had planned to do with her next.

She knew she was too weak to try and escape, but there was something that made her strong. Her mind searched for any other humane soul in the prison. Then, she could see Gavin; he was in some sort of dungeon and was being whipped by Philip. But, there was another person as well. Will was there. He had sensed Gena and had tried to warn her about the oncoming attack but was too late. Dante had him against a wall and was placing an iron brand into his skin; Gena could smell the singed flesh from her room. Meredith was in the same place…somewhere. She couldn't pinpoint where she was located; something was blocking the signal. With the rest of her sense, she tried to contact Bonnie and found that she had escaped and was safe with Elena.

Gena could feel anger building up inside her. She could sense a guard outside of the door and he was human.

'Katherine is really stupid,' she thought as she jumped out of bed and knocked over a light.

The man walked into the room with a gun and stake. He searched the room until her felt a grip on his neck from the women behind him. Gena sank her teeth in and drank every last drop of the man's blood. She didn't care that she killed him; if you work for someone like Katherine, you deserve to die. The new blood stirred in her body and started to heal some of her wounds, although some would take longer than others. The lifeless body in her arms slumped to the ground as she turned to leave the room and go towards her destiny.

* * *

Stefan and Damon made their way towards the room where Gena was being held. Before they could make it down the hall, the brothers saw their sister open the door and walk out with a sense of authority neither of them had seen before.

"Let's go," she said and continued on her way.

They both could see the bruises on her body and the hurt that screamed out in her mind, but she wasn't going to let her friends down because they needed her.

"They're downstairs," she said.

As the trio entered the dungeon, they saw four guards protecting the entrance. The three vampires tore through the soldiers, with Gena taking care of two on her own. With a swift kick, the door opened with a snap and the play from Gena's mind was visible. Dante was kicking Will, as he was curled up and burnt on the ground. Her brothers watched as she reached over to pick up Dante. The look on his face was priceless as she held him up high against the stone wall.

"You may have broken my body, but you will NEVER have ME!"

She drank from him fiercely, ripping his neck; the rage taking over. All the years of hatred released in that single moment. Gena then moved over to the brand and put it through Dante's chest to hold him up on the wall, but then she saw his knife. With trembling hands she picked it up and looked at it; it was the same knife that had ended her life so many years ago. With little hesitation, she lifted the knife and drove it straight into his heart. She stumbled back and dropped the bloody knife as Dante screamed out in pain.

Then she turned her attention to Philip, who tried to run in the other direction. Stefan and Damon caught him before he was able to make his escape. Damon grabbed by the collar and looked straight into the young vampire's eyes with dead certainty.

"Don't ever touch my sister."

Together, the brothers threw him against a wall, which happened to be lined with spikes for torture. With two out of three foes defeated, Stefan looked at his sister a strange look; he had never seen her so out of control.

* * *

_'It's done,'_ she told herself.

Gena bent down to Will and unlocked the shackles around his wrists and ankles. The motion itself meant freedom, but it was more meaningful for the two as they sat briefly together. They had finally beaten the man who had made them what they were, and in a way, had come to peace with their current status.

Remembering Gavin, she ran over to his bloodied body corner. With little effort, she also removed his chains and threw them aside. She took a long look at him; his eyes were puffy and swollen shut and there were some bad bruises on his body. Gena didn't need to look at the whip marks to know he was in pain.

"I'm sorry," she said with tears in her eyes.

"It's not your fault," he replied through swollen lips.

"Damon, where are you going," Stefan yelled as the eldest vampire ran down a hall.

The remaining siblings looked at each other and nodded in reply. They moved down the hall, following their brother's footsteps knowing where he was going to; to Meredith.


	34. Finale

He could sense her, and she was in distress. At the end of the hall lied a room with an open ceiling and a stone table in the center. Damon looked into the room and saw Meredith tied down to the table and unable to escape.

"Why are you doing this? And why me," Meredith asked.

"There is a purpose, little human. When I returned to the 'living' as a vampire, there were a few conditions. One was I could choose any human body and take it over, but it was temporary. I found Virginia when she was on a trip in Italy. In order to stay here for good, I needed to find a male and female and kill them in a ritual. Of course, there are stupid rules and regulations I had to follow; I had to know them and they had to be married. Well, I knew two of you, and although the idea of killing Stefan and Elena for good had fiendishly crossed my mind, there was another issue; I also needed to kill a child. Now, I thought of little Margaret in Fell's Church, but she's almost grown up now. Then it happened to be the luckiest day of my life. Philip and Dante helped me to get back here. I contacted them in their sleep, and got them to do a ceremony in a field in Tuscany. It happened to be the same night that your pathetic husband showed up to do some paranormal research. I couldn't believe he was that stupid! We killed him that night in the ritual. Then, luck would have it; we found out that you were pregnant! It was almost handed to me on a silver platter! With you, I get two for the price of one, and you are going to help me stay here as a vampire again for all eternity."

"You're a monster, Katherine. Go to hell," Meredith screamed.

Katherine laughed and raised a silver knife over her head.

"Now you and your child are going to have the same fate as its bigmouthed father."

Damon listened and watched the scene but now he had to interfere. Katherine held the knife above her head and was about to drive it into Meredith's abdomen. He flew at Katherine with all his weight and knocked her over. Katherine rebounded by turning around and knocking Damon into the nearby wall. She held him against the wall and tried to scratch at his face while he strategically blocked her attempts.

Stefan ran passed the fighting duo to Meredith's side. The first thing he noticed was the small teeth marks on the side of her neck. Her pallor was abnormally blue and she was starting to lose consciousness. He held her hand as the fight ensued between Damon and Katherine.

As Katherine finally stumbled, Damon noticed his sister beside him in a fighting stance.

"Get out of here, Gena. Go help your friends," Damon yelled.

"Hey, I'm not leaving you. Plus, I have a score to settle with her too."

Gena moved towards her and kicked as she approached. She pinned her up against the wall with her boot.

"Is that all you got, Kitty," Gena mocked.

Katherine's eyes grew darker and she became enraged. She lunge at Gena and threw her against the wall. Gena could feel another bone in her arm break.

In the corner, Gena tried to get herself together for another attack, but it seemed to have already begun. Katherine was on her feet and canines out, ready to get rid of the girl once and for all. The scene was in slow motion and Gena knew that Katherine's raged face might be the last thing she saw. Her body finally started to feel the affects of her attack earlier. Then, out of the corner of her eye, she saw something twinkle. It was a shine that was most associated with metal.

As Katherine came closer, Gena gathered all her strength and held Katherine's shoulders. Damon had picked up Dante's knife from the other room. She continued to hold Katherine, with the blonde vampire nipping at her with her teeth; then Damon threw the knife into Katherine's back and it went straight into her heart. Then she started to scream.

Her pseudo human body was dying from her wounds as she desperately moved to kill Meredith.

"NO! NOOOOOOOOOO! I WAS SO CLOSE!"

It was no use; the blood was seeping out of her heart onto the concrete floor. As she fell, Damon saw that the knife head gone straight through Katherine…and into Gena.

Gena's chest was oozing blood. She fell to the ground in a heap. As she fell, Gavin and Will entered the room. They'd heard the struggle and came to help out, but had to see her fall with a knife jutting out of her. Gavin held her head and tried to talk to her, while Will pulled the knife out of her chest; she hissed in pain. With tears in his eyes, Gavin moved some bloody hairs off of her face and kissed her forehead. She opened her eyes and smiled at him.

"Hey," she said faintly.

"Hey," he said back.

"I feel tired," she said with a sigh. "You know what Gavin, I don't think I'm going to make it this time." Tears welled up in her eyes.

"Sure you will; you always have."

Damon pushed the two men out of the way and held his sister's hand. He stroked her head with his free hand.

"Gena, I'm so sorry," he said quietly.

"Shh…it's ok. You did what you had to do. I'll be fine. Worry about yourself."

"No, you'll be ok. Hold on."

"He's right; you'll be fine," Stefan said next to her.

He was kneeling down with a limp Meredith in his arms.

Gena almost had to laugh at the scene; her brothers, her ex-husband, and her boyfriend were all together getting along and crying like babies.

"You know, I love all of you." Then she closed her eyes and finally could rest.

As the others stared in disbelief at the dying vampire, Meredith screamed out in pain as she started to go into labor.

* * *

Thanks to all of you who read this story. I had so much fun writing it, and I'm glad that people are enjoying it. I'm working on the sequel right now. Stay tuned for "Beyond Burden," which should be out sometime next month! Thanks again!


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